Set In Stone
by Scenic Sakura
Summary: With Sasuke dead and the world crumbling into a chaotic mess, Tsunade and Sakura finish preparations before traveling back to the past, in order to make things right... But who could've guessed just how much their actions would impact the people around them, and who knew that the Haruno held something a lot different in this timeline. Sakura slowly discovers why she's in danger...
1. The Starting Line

_This story is a time travel fanfiction, however the events of the past aren't accurate to the standard 'Naruto' world when they arrive in the past. This fanfiction will focus mainly on Sakura and I didn't want to get into too much detail on how they travel back in time (Neither does it really make sense) ;P Enjoy!_

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Sakura's hands shook in anticipation as she successfully infused the last eyeball into the assigned space on the complex scroll.

This particular scroll had twenty years of blood, sweat and tears poured into it. Mainly crafted by Tsunade, Sakura had carefully studied alongside her mentor to create a scroll that would send them back in time.

Tsunade had sent Sakura off on an ANBU training course, for roughly six months prior to this moment, with Kakashi, Sai and Yamato so that Sakura would be skilled enough to deceive the shinobi of the past, uncertain of how their presence would affect the timeline they were aiming to head into.

A breath of relief was heard from Sakura's trusted sensei, allowing Sakura a brief moment to relax her body and carefully place her hands back by her side.

"Are we doing the right thing, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura questioned, carefully considering the eyes of Tsunade. Tsunade nodded firmly while she moved her own hand above the three different, and powerful, eyeballs.

The Sharingan, which belonged to Obito, was placed at the top of the triangle diagram. Sasuke's Rinnegan was placed below Obito's eye on the right side. The Byakugan, which was still warm from the extraction Sakura performed, had belonged to Hanabi and sat at the bottom left of the triangle.

Sakura was sure that she made an enemy with the Hyuga's, however blissfully unaware of the current situation they were. Sakura's only hopes was that the years' worth of theorising time travel with Tsunade had paid off.

Tsunade cleared her throat to speak, snapping Sakura's focus to her.

"Everything is in place…Are you ready to travel back into the past?" Tsunade asked with confidence.

This was the very moment the two had planned. They had planned to travel back to eliminate Itachi and Orochimaru. Tsunade wanted to make it her personal assignment to eliminate Itachi, with Sakura's help. Sakura secretly made it her mission to kill Orochimaru, in the instance that Tsunade failed her mission to kill Itachi. Sakura desperately wanted to save Sasuke and believed that he was perfectly fine until Orochimaru had taken over his mind. Hopefully Sakura wouldn't have to kill Sasuke this time around if the jutsu worked successfully.

Sakura swallowed back her fear and nodded. She checked her pouch for the large sum of money she'd been saving during her training in ANBU before placing her hands steadily above Tsunade's. Exerting her chakra as the cold wind blew past the two kunoichi and into the night time terrain.

This was it, for Sakura. She had relied so heavily on this exact moment for the past six months that it almost felt unreal. Her eyes darted left and right as the world around her seemed to collapse in on itself, Tsunade included. However, she did not move an inch or ever stop exerting her chakra.

A sensation of intense dizziness almost tempted Sakura to move her position, although she remained grounded and fought through the feeling.

Eventually, her head started to regain normal feeling and the outdoor surroundings had reappeared piece by piece, looking slightly livelier than before, but Sakura felt like nothing had really happened.

The two Kunoichi were still in the densely tree-populated forest with small rays of soft light shining through the leaves of some of the trees, courtesy of the moon above them.

Sakura was close to collapsing in complete failure until she took in Tsunade's appearance.

"Whoa," Sakura couldn't stop herself from saying. Tsunade looked at her student strangely, inviting her to elaborate. "You must at least be twenty years younger. Our Jutsu worked!" She exclaimed gleefully, accepting that the jutsu seemed to work without a hitch.

Tsunade's lips parted ever so slightly before she took in her own appearance. She smiled triumphantly while storing away the used scroll in her pouch.

"This is great! I loved my young body!" Tsunade exclaimed, slightly childishly, before she took in Sakura's appearance. "It doesn't really look like you're that much younger, Sakura."

Sakura hesitantly looked down at her body and frowned at her appearance, it seemed like she'd only gone back around 5 years.

"That's not all too disappointing, I guess." Sakura started, trying to look at positives. "If I was any younger than 12, I would be a lot smaller." Sakura noted out loud, completely oblivious to her Mentors state.

Tsunade had suddenly collapsed onto the floor with a harsh thud, causing Sakura to flinch.

"Ahh…" Sakura muttered to herself before walking to her sensei's side. She hesitantly examined her sensei before concluding she over exhausted her chakra, which was the possible reason that she had gone back so many years in comparison to Sakura.

"Stop right there!" A voice boomed as a few kunai flew dangerously close to Sakura's face. Her head snapped in the direction of the voices as she got into a fighting stance.

"Who are you?" A different voice hissed. Sakura refrained herself from shivering as she recognised the voice before the two talented shinobi entered the scene.

It was Orochimaru and Jiraiya. Sakura's eyes widened in excitement as she saw that, despite his young age which again confirmed that the jutsu was successful, Jiraiya was alive and well.

Sakura's eyes quickly reverted to their impassive state. She had to make sure that she didn't appear to know too much about these two shinobi, otherwise things could get really messy, really quickly. So, she didn't let it show, but Sakura was quite excited to be presented with a new opportunity to repaint the future.

Orochimaru became super alert and suspicious of the pinkette before him. There was a feeling he had about her that he couldn't shake off. Was it her exotic look that excited him? Or was it the confident look of power she displayed in her face and body. Orochimaru licked his lips in bloodlust.

"Why are you attacking me?" Sakura retorted, trying to engage the two in a conversation. She was more than aware that she would not win in a battle with the two of them working together.

"Why are we attacking you?" Jiraiya bellowed with a confused expression. "Tsunade goes missing for a month and we find you here with an unconscious Tsunade next to you!"

Sakura stood firmly as she tried to fabricate an excuse, her gaze landing on Orochimaru. Orochimaru didn't fail to notice the slight flicker of fear in her eyes as she glared at him.

"I don't know what you mean, Tsunade-sama is my sensei. She didn't tell me she was missing." Sakura made up, earning Jiraiya's trust quite easily as he let his guard down.

However, Orochimaru left his position next to Jiraiya and darted in Sakura's direction with a kunai tightly grasped in his hand.

Sakura glowered in his direction before deciding to use one of Tsunade's moves to her favour, further backing up her initial story.

She reared her hand back speedily and forced it into the ground, flaring her chakra at the right time, causing the ground beneath her to rumble and disperse dangerously in Orochimaru's direction.

He jumped out of the way with ease before he continued to run at Sakura, forcing her to engage in close-combat.

Sakura used all her efforts to dodge each and every one of his attacks, fearing that he was using poison.

Orochimaru grew bored so instead of striking Sakura, he went to attack Tsunade.

"Oh no you don't, snake boy!" Sakura growled as she sped up behind him and tackled him to the ground, not aware of the stab wound she had acquired from the fall.

Orochimaru smirked victoriously before harshly pushing Sakura off him before standing up and brushing the dust off his legs.

"Why did you attack?" Jiraiya inquired as he jumped down to Orochimaru's side.

"If Tsunade really did train this pathetic excuse of a ninja, she will know basic medical jutsu." Orochimaru responded, knowing fully well that the poison he had used was one that Tsunade hadn't found an antidote to.

Sakura stood up slowly before grunting through gritted teeth as her body naturally inspected the damage.

"Basic medical jutsu doesn't involve removing poison from the system, you ass." Sakura muttered mostly to herself, but Orochimaru heard her as clear as day.

"She's out cold…What did you do to her?" Jiraiya broke Sakura out of her self-analogy.

"I didn't do anything at all…She just…Over exerted her chakra when trying to show me her signature move." Sakura quickly responded before snatching Orochimaru's flask of water.

He refrained himself from attacking her further and instead watched her next moves very closely. It was apparent to him that this Pinkette did train under Tsunade when she extracted the poison in her leg before tossing the tainted water to the side.

"You're lucky that's not poisoned water in my flask." Orochimaru chuckled darkly, although Sakura simply chose to ignore his comment.

"So…I wonder what made Tsunade want to train you…" Jiraiya pondered out loud, picking Tsunade up and sneaking peeks down her unusual outfit when he thought Sakura wasn't looking.

"Huh? What makes you say that?" Sakura questioned genuinely, handing Orochimaru back his flask once she was satisfied that her body could burn off the rest of the poison.

"Hm? Well, she not long left a bunch of orphans to fend for themselves…It's quite weird to see her reject the orphans and then decide that she wants to train you." He elaborated with ease. Sakura frowned and recalled that Jiraiya must've been speaking about Nagato, Yahiko and Konan.

"That's…hard to believe. She was so willing to pass her techniques onto me." Sakura responded in correspondence to her frown.

"You better believe it." He responded as he readied himself to leave.

"Wait! Let me travel with you! I live in the hidden leaf too." Sakura exclaimed while patting herself down. If she could befriend Jiraiya at this stage, it may be helpful in her future…maybe she could introduce him to Naruto quicker. Either way, if she could play the happy-go-lucky 12-year-old, she'd gain a lot of positive attention which would benefit her in years to come.

"Just keep up with us." Orochimaru bored as he darted off. Sakura smirked before recalling upon her previous ANBU training to race past him.

"Last one there's a big fat loser." Sakura taunted, purposely picking up wind from behind Orochimaru to block his vision with his own hair whipping him in his face. She swiftly grabbed Tsunade's limp body from Jiraiya and raced in the direction of the hidden leaf.

Orochimaru smirked and upped his pace where Jiraiya shouted in complaint in Sakura's direction.

They all raced for approximately half an hour, Sakura emerging the victor as she effortlessly reached the Gates to the village, Orochimaru was close behind catching his breath. Jiraiya greedily inhaled the air around him as he arrived a minute later.

"How old are you girl, and where did you get that speed?" Jiraiya's voice shook as he leaned against the village gates.

"It's rude to ask a lady her age. And through hard work." Sakura responded as she broke into a brisk walk in the direction of the hospital.

"Seriously, how old are you? What's your name?" Orochimaru questioned as he walked by her side.

Sakura saw no harm in expressing either as she inhaled.

"You can call me Sakura. I'm 12 and a half." She announced proudly, Jiraiya sighed deeply.

"That all?" He muttered solemnly. Sakura knew that it was a perverted joke but she ignored it nonetheless.

"Hmm…ok, I assume you live with your parents in the village then." Orochimaru continued, wanting to probe Sakura for all the information he could get. Sakura was tempted to respond honestly, but as she snuck a glance at where her home should've been, she decided otherwise.

There was a gaping space where her house should have been. Sakura wondered if that meant her parents didn't exist in this timeline.

"No…They both died during the ninetails attack." Sakura muttered, sincerely depressed at the thought of never seeing her parents again.

"Oh." Jiraiya uncontrollably gasped. "I'm sorry for your loss." He continued, feeling awkward and unsure.

"Don't you worry about it. I'm going to live on for them and make a name for myself in honour of their brave sacrifice to the village." Sakura chirped in response, causing Jiraiya to raise an eyebrow.

"You're going to strive towards becoming the Hokage?" Jiraiya questioned with a smug look on his face.

Sakura lost control of her rational mind as she fell into an unguarded topic.

"No way! The next Hokage's going to be Naruto." Sakura smiled very briefly before realising that Jiraiya reacted to her words, giving her a straight look.

"Who's Naruto?" Orochimaru frowned as he turned to look at Jiraiya. Before he could answer though, Sakura shoved Tsunade into Jiraiya's arms before bowing.

"It was an honour to meet all three Legendary Sannin. I hope I can be as great as you in my future." Sakura politely dismissed herself and ran away from the two.

She internally cussed herself for being reckless before a certain knucklehead caught her eye. She didn't expect to see him so soon…But she also didn't expect to see him as young as he was.

Sakura could accurately assume that she was twelve years of age, given her body type and chakra supply. But she imagined Naruto to be a bit older too. Ignorantly forgetting about the fact Itachi had wiped out the Uchiha clan when Naruto was merely 8, Sakura sighed.

She could tell that he was on his way to deface one of the Hokage's faces on the rocks, so she decided to chase after him at a leisurely pace, just so she could analyse his current skills.

She was unsurprised to see that he lacked any significant talent when it came to his speed. Naruto clumsily climbed up the rocks before reaching the Fourth Hokage's face.

Sakura wondered whether he chose that face to paint over first as that was his dad, although being unaware to create the link at his young age, maybe it drew Naruto to him because of the similarities they both shared. Sakura took a moment to take everything in.

She then frowned as she thought about Sasuke…He would also be the same age as Naruto…Which meant that Sakura had to wait just a bit longer to consider getting into a relationship with him…

Sakura sighed inaudibly as she cussed her preference in older men.

Naruto loudly plunged the big brush into the big bucket of red paint, sniggering at himself as he mixed the brush in a circular motion.

"Time to intervene, and introduce myself I guess." Sakura said out loud as she promptly clicked her neck left and right.

She jumped up to the make shift scaffolding that Naruto made and landed so softly that he didn't even notice her, giving Sakura great pride in her progress as a ninja, and thanking the fact that her skills went undamaged when she travelled back through time.

Sakura allowed Naruto to paint the first line onto the face of the Hokage before she tilted her head to the side. Holding her chin in her fingers on her right hand while cupping her right elbow with her left hand, she looked as if she was about to give Naruto's handiwork professional criticism.

"I don't think that's what a future Hokage should be doing to the face of another Hokage, you know." Sakura said in an authorative tone while leaning down to Naruto's height.

Naruto jumped out of his skin, almost hitting Sakura in the face with a paintbrush as he spun on the spot to face her.

"Gah! You flat-chested hag! You scared me!" Naruto shouted. It took all the strength in Sakura not to punch this boy into his grave as a vein on her head twitched.

"You're not supposed to be up here, let alone destroying village property." Sakura darkly responded through a blank expression.

Naruto simply dropped his brush into the paint bucket and crossed his arms before he looked up at the Pinkette.

"Who are you to be bossing me about anyway, Flat-chested hag?" Naruto childishly provoked. Sakura didn't feel as angry as she did the first time but instead felt pity for her young friend, remembering that this was probably what he considered to be fun during his free time as no one else in the village wanted to acknowledge him.

"I'm Sakura H-" She interrupted herself before she spoke her last name. "My name is Sakura and I'd like to be your friend. Because you seem so cool." Sakura added, laughing genuinely at Naruto's confused reaction.

"Did you fall down a tree and hit every stupid branch on the way?" Naruto bluntly scoffed before relaxing his stance a bit.

"Not at all." She responded politely as she stood up straight and offered her hand out. "It's nice to meet you…uh." Sakura said before deliberately stuttering. Naruto's face lit up as he took her hand and shook it.

"The name's Naruto! Don't you forget it!" He said with great pride. Sakura smiled warmly at him before pointing to the bucket of water and soap that was on a different set of scaffolding.

"I'm going to get that bucket over there and bring it back. If I do, will you clean up the mess you've made?" Sakura spoke clearly, finding Naruto's micro-facial expressions amusing to an extent.

"What's the point, the Hokage's don't do shit for us." Naruto barked quietly. Sakura slightly flinched at his choice of words.

"Look, Naruto. The Hokage's have a really important job in the Village, and they all worked really hard to protect the village. If they didn't neither of us would be standing here today." Sakura replied simply, leaning back a bit while crossing her arms.

Naruto was dumbfounded and found himself looking at the ground.

"…Fine, I'll clean the paint off. But don't think this means I respect the Hokage's!" Naruto reluctantly agreed to cleaning up his mess. Sakura nodded slightly before jumping elegantly to the other scaffolding and returning just as gracefully. "Are you a Shinobi?" He questioned while removing the sponge from the bucket.

Sakura kept a hold of the bucket as she hummed in confirmation. Naruto pouted as he made quick work of the cleaning. Naruto's stomach suddenly rumbled loud causing his face to slowly turn red in embarrassment.

"I'm quite hungry." Sakura said out loud, in attempt to hide Naruto's embarrassment. "How about I treat you to Ichiraku Ramen?" She suggested, knowing that Naruto would have no complaints.

Naruto fist pumped the air in excitement before the two packed away and headed to the food stand. A few people in the streets had turned their attention onto the Boy walking next to Sakura.

"It's the monster…" Sakura heard a snobby lady say to her young kid, who clearly had no clue what she meant.

Sakura was glad that Naruto didn't hear her, but she still decided to shoot the lady a deathly glare.

"You got a problem?" Sakura asked softly as she stopped walking. Naruto looked up at her curiously, thinking why she sounded like she was happy but had a deadly aura about her.

"Yes actually. We all do!" the snobby lady gulped back the fear that built inside her and snapped back at Sakura.

"I suggest you get rid of that ignorant notion of yours and start thinking for yourself, otherwise I cannot know which month of the year I'll be knocking you into." Sakura threatened with a sweet smile before ushering Naruto into the familiar ramen stand, not bothering to see the mess she'd left behind her.

"Oh, uh." Ichiraku looked at Naruto nervously, uncomfortable about seeing him yet making sure he bit his tongue. "What can I do for you?" He asked with a shaky voice. Naruto hopped up to the stool and looked at the man with a heart-warming expression on his face.

"I'll have whatever you recommend is your best ramen served in a small bowl please, and Naruto here, what would you like?" Sakura informed Ichiraku before turning around to ask the small blonde.

Naruto made a sound out loud as he thought about what he wanted. He looked at Sakura apologetically before slumping his shoulders.

"I've never been here before…" Naruto admitted finally. Sakura sighed quietly before turning back to Ichiraku.

"And one large bowl of Naruto Ramen." She said with a smile.

"Coming right up, miss." He took in the information and started to cook to order.

"There's a ramen named after me?! That must mean that I'll become Hokage one day!" Naruto laughed loud.

"More like, you're named after Irchiraku's delicious Naruto Ramen, Naruto." She giggled back. Ichiraku heard her compliment and smiled before a brief flashback of his conversation he had with Minato came across his mind. He sighed inaudibly as he continued to cook.

"No way!" Naruto said in disbelief.

The two shinobi spoke amongst each other, sharing their dreams and ambitions for a solid half an hour before Ichiraku served two steaming hot bowls of food. Naruto's eyes seemed to sparkle as they enlarged.

"Whoa! This smells so good!" Naruto drooled as he picked up a pair of chopsticks. "Itadakimasu!" Naruto wailed before he started wolfing down the ramen. "Arhhh! So goof!" He appreciated through his food, making Ichiraku smile modestly at the boy.

"I like you kid!" He roared in a fit of laughter. Naruto continued to hoover his food up as Sakura picked up her chopsticks.

"Thank you for the food." She said before digging into the ramen, carefully picking out the Menma first and eating it.

"Oh! What does that taste like, Bunny-girl?" Naruto questioned after gulping his food, quite unsafely is Sakura were to judge.

"Bunny-girl?" Sakura laughed before picking up a piece of Menma. "Believe me when I say, you probably don't have the acquired palate for Menma, Naruto."

"Try me!" He said, eager to try something new. Sakura handed Naruto over the Menma. He chomped on it once before spitting it out. "Maybe you're right…" He moaned before turning back to his own bowl, shocked to see that he had already finished it off.

"Another Large bowl of Naruto Ramen for Naruto please!" Sakura ordered, Ichiraku already seemed to anticipate this as he whipped up another bowl in no time.

"Hehe, Thanks lady!" Naruto thanked graciously before eating the second bowl at a more appropriate pace.

Sakura would have started to eat the rest of her ramen, if it weren't for the fact she could feel that someone had flared their chakra nearby, is if to call Sakura to them. Sakura sighed as she flared her chakra back briefly in the direction she felt the call came from. Whoever it was that wanted her, she didn't want Naruto to get involved.

"Sorry Naruto, But I forgot that I had to go to the hospital to see how my friend is doing. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She said as she got out the correct amount of money and put it on the counter. Ichiraku smiled as he took the money. However, Sakura reached into her pouch for more. "This is for making Naruto's first ramen experience remarkable, I think you've gained yourself a regular customer." She smiled before ruffling up Naruto's hair.

"Hey!" He groaned quietly. She simply smiled again and resisted the urge to pinch his chubby cheeks before walking outside. It took her a short amount of time for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light before she saw to members of ANBU standing quite menacingly under a flickering lamp post.

She easily recognised Kakashi behind his mask, his grey hair wasn't hard to miss. However, she had a bit of trouble figuring out who the member next to him was.

She resisted the urge to freak Kakashi out by addressing him by his name as she approached him. Kakashi noticed that the lady seemed to look at him with a sense of familiarity…Did she know him?

"What can I do for you scary ninjas?" Sakura said in a flat tone, trying to get a better look at the dark-haired member behind the weasel mask.

"We are to escort you to the Hokage's office immediately." Kakashi spoke, gripping his hand on his Katana.

Sakura crossed her arms and leaned to one side while raising an eyebrow.

"And if I decide to simply vanish before your very eyes?" Sakura questioned childishly, hoping to get a reaction from the unfamiliar man to get a gauge on who he may be.

"Firstly, you wouldn't." Kakashi started, despite Sakura scoffing he continued. "Secondly we'd eliminate you without a second thought."

Sakura giggled slightly before walking nonchalantly towards the Hokage tower.

"Don't worry, I have no intention of running away…It's inevitable that the Hokage would want to speak with me." Sakura muttered to herself mostly, very aware that the two ANBU members were stalking her along her journey.

"You've got our villages headband on, yet you're unfamiliar. If it were up to me, I would've taken you to the torturing room. It's more than likely that you are a spy." Kakashi's companion spoke up.

Sakura would've laughed if he wasn't so serious.

"I can't say that I recognise you, so I guess that means that you're a spy too." Sakura mirrored his logic irrationally. "I've seen Mr Pervy grey hair around the village a lot." Sakura said, as if to back up her statement and to provoke the mystery man to revealing his identity.

"Pervy?" Kakashi repeated in disbelief. Sakura was glad that they weren't facing in her direction as she let a wide smile spread on her face.

She would definitely have fun teasing her former Sensei.

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 _A/N: This isn't to be an accurate fanfiction where it concerns the time that Orochimaru left the leaf village, so I'd just like to make you guys aware of that ^_^_

 _I'm trying out a different style of writing, Please let me know if it's good! and if there is anything I could improve on I would love to hear it!_

 _I'm putting my other fanfictions on hold until I finish this story._

 _I also have read many fanfictions (and created a few of my own) that involved Sakura somewhat involuntarily going back into the past, so without putting too much of the boring detail in the beginning ;D I've taken you all straight to the past._

 _(Not triple checked the text so I apologise for any mistakes)_

 _Please Review_

 _but more Importantly, I hope you enjoyed and Thank you for reading!_

 _I've not decided on a final paring, so please tell me who you want to see! that includes flings with other characters too! However bizarre!_

 _( I also plan on making a short fan fiction to link to Sakuras ANBU training with Sai, Kakashi and Yamato before she travelled into the past which may focus on a KakaSaku relationship :p )_


	2. Curious Uchiha

The three shinobi arrived at the Hokage tower, only to be faced with two high ranked, old ANBU guards standing outside the Office.

"You two are to wait in the waiting room until further instruction." One of the guards spoke. Kakashi and his companion walked off without another word as Sakura knocked on the door.

"Come in…" A depressed voice spoke firmly.

Sakura walked into the room and closed the door behind her. Noticing that Tsunade was standing in front of the Hokage's desk, she decided to wait until she was spoken to rather than opening up a conversation.

"I found your scroll…" Sarutobi sighed deeply as he used his hand to move Sakura's attention to the scroll. "I do not want to know how far back you both have travelled and I do not want to hear about the future. You will both do well to keep that information to yourself." He continued before performing a seal on the scroll. "I _will_ erase your memories if you slip up. So, consider this as your only warning."

The Hokage stood up from his seat before looking over at Tsunade.

"I have no idea what kind of danger you could bring to this world, but you're both very fortunate that my gut instinct is telling me to keep you both alive."

Tsunade could see through his serious act and smiled fondly up at Sarutobi.

"I have been told that you don't quite fit into this timeline…Sakura," He continued as he looked over at her. "If it's of any use, the Haruno clan hasn't been around since I became the Hokage, many years ago. Whether you believe it to be or not, this is fortunate for you as it will be easier to explain where you came from to the council…"

Sakura nodded slowly, to show that she was listening.

"Your Sensei speaks highly of you, Sakura. I understand that you are of ANBU calibre. I'm sure you can fathom why I can't immediately throw you into our Task force." He stated rather than asked as he returned to his seat.

He then gave Sakura a lengthy story to live by if anyone in the village were to ask about her origin. She was to say that she was initially born in the village, off records, and both her parents died at a young age, failing to notify anyone of Sakura's existence.

She was to say that she was on her own from as far back as she can remember and that Tsunade had come across her on the border. The rest of the story was easy to follow.

"Understood." Sakura said before turning to Tsunade.

"Is there any way that we can put Sakura back into the ANBU force? If so, how long will that take?" Tsunade questioned, filling Sakura with a small amount of anxiety.

"It's possible, but she will first have to complete her Genin, Chunin and Jonin exams. If her skills are as high as you've explained them to be, it will take no longer than a month…And she will be considered the youngest Kunoichi to enter the ranks of ANBU." Sarutobi answered. "What are your plans, Tsunade?"

"I wish to work at the Hospital, I'd like to teach the staff how to do their job." She responded arrogantly.

"Very well, I'll arrange that for you so that you can start there at the end of the week. Do you want to join the ANBU forces, Sakura?"

"Yes," She assured, keeping her posture straight.

"I can get your Genin exam organised by tomorrow. The Chunin Exams start next week and your Jonin exam will take three weeks to prepare. It's only after you pass the Jonin exam that I will start to consider your future in the ANBU taskforce. Any questions?"

"The Genin exam will be at the academy? And it will be at the end of the school day as usual?"

"Yes."

"Then I have no further questions."

With their seemingly serious conversation at an end, Sakura left the building with a question floating around her mind. Cursing her luck for thinking of it just after she had the opportunity to speak her mind.

Where was she going to sleep for the night?

She shook off the possibility of sleep as she passed the waiting room on her way out of the tower.

"Hey, Lady." Sakura heard Kakashi call out, but she ignored him and continued walking. She didn't get too far though as both Kakashi and his companion met Sakura at the entrance to the tower.

Refraining the urge to sigh, Sakura blankly stared at the two shinobi.

"What?" she hesitantly said.

"It's standard procedure to test your skills as a newly found shinobi of the village." Sakura raised her eyebrows as she recognised Kakashi's lying tone.

"That's odd…" She commented before trying to walk past them. However, the slightly shorter black-haired shinobi sidestepped to block her.

"I want to fight you." The man said, not even earning so much as a look from Sakura.

"That's a shame, because I don't want to waste the effort to fight you. Now if you don't mind," Sakura continued while swiftly moving around the ANBU blocking her path. "I have a Genin exam to prepare for…"

Without any warning, A shuriken had dangerously sped towards the back of Sakura's head. She noticed with enough time to substitute herself with a nearby branch before she turned to face the two men.

"I will fight you both when I become a Jonin." Sakura informed, hoping to get them off her back. "Until then, you're both ANBU ranking Shinobi picking on a pink haired 12-year-old who isn't even a Genin yet. Good night." Sakura rushed before she dispelled herself into cherry blossom petals, letting the wind carry her to near the Uchiha compound before rematerializing outside the entrance.

"Jeesh." Sakura sighed out loud. She was itching to have a fight with her former sensei…But she had to be extremely careful of what she did, as she knew the Hokage would be keeping a close eye on her.

"Hey you!" A short drunk man shouted, amongst the group of other drunk civilian males, before he stumbled by the Pinkette with an empty bottle in one hand while flashing cash in the other. "How much for a bit of head?"

Sakura couldn't help a disgusted look twisting her once calm face.

"I'm barely twelve, pervert. And no amount money in the world would make me want to even touch you." Sakura retorted. The guys surrounding the man who shouted had laughed at his rejection.

"You're an ugly whore anyway." He tried to play it cool.

"Clearly not as ugly as your mother was, seeing the state of your face." She bit back, further angering the man.

"You'll regret that, bitch!" He said as he threw his money on the ground. His friends were acting like pigeons to crumbs as the short, drunk man staggered humorously towards Sakura.

"Will I now?" She taunted, longing to get into a bit of combat. However, before she could strike a punch, a man came out of the Uchiha compound to check what the commotion was all about.

"You'll do well to keep clear of the Uchiha compound." A stern voice made Sakura jump. She didn't recognise the Uchiha standing next to her, but she didn't sense him approaching her, meaning that he was a strong shinobi.

She noted that his hairstyle reminded her of Naruto's, despite the lack of blonde hair.

The drunken man stopped in his tracks before snarling at the Uchiha. Leaving the scene in seconds.

"Uh…I guess I should thank you." Sakura commented, trying to get a look at his face.

"Thank? You should be worshipping me! Who knows what would've happened if I wasn't here to save your little head!" He spoke uncharacteristically of a Uchiha as he ruffled up Sakura's hair.

Sakura knew differently, but decided against saying anything more.

"I'll walk you home, little lady, in case any other scary men are out there, where do you live?" the Uchiha smiled warmly at Sakura, disarming her completely.

"U-Um…" She stuttered. "I-uh…I don't have a home." She admitted reluctantly. Curious of what the man would make of that.

"Oh…That's unfortunate." He said as he tilted his head to the side, as if it would aid his thought process.

"It's okay though. I'm able to set up camp for tonight…I'll just buy a tent from the stand and camp outside the village or something. It will only be for tonight anyway as I've got my Genin exam tomorrow." Sakura muttered before walking off.

"Wait! You do realise that it's midnight? The stalls are closed."

Sakura hadn't realised that hours had passed while she was talking to the Hokage.

"Uh…" Sakura groaned before feeling the Uchiha approach her.

"Why don't you stay around my house for the night? I have a spare room, and I could do with the company…I could teach you some cool tricks too before you go for your exam!" he exclaimed.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at his words, but knowing that Uchiha's are too full of pride to have any negative intention behind innocent words, she tactfully accepted his offer before following him in silence to his house in the compound.

She tried to hide her sadness while she spoke to him, knowing that in her previous timeline she would've never had the opportunity to speak to an Uchiha other than Sasuke due to Itachi's selfish actions. Expertly hiding her expressions, she kept a calm, child-like demeanour about her as they entered Shisui's abode.

"I'm surprised you're not a loud walker, how old are you?" He asked after closing his house door and locking it behind him.

"Twelve." She replied while politely removing her shoes and grudgingly standing them up neatly near the shoe rack. "I never asked you for your name."

"You can call me Shisui, Little Lady." He replied with a grin on his face.

"You can call me Sakura, Shisui." She retorted without holding back on the sass. "As appreciative as I am of your hospitality tonight, won't the Other Uchiha be pissed off if they find out you're hosting for someone other than a Uchiha?"

"I don't care what they think, I'm not willing to let a child in need sleep rough,"

"I'm not a child in need…"

"So, you want to sleep out on the streets?"

"…No."

Shisui smiled triumphantly before walking over to his kitchen.

"Do you like Peppermint Tea, Sakura? I can make you a cup before you go to bed for the night." He offered. Sakura noticed in his body language and tone of voice that he wanted to make her a tea. So, she felt inclined to accept his offer.

They had a brief conversation before Shisui ruffled Sakura's hair and shooed her to the bedroom, which was immaculate other than a photo frame in the corner on a window ledge. The room was far too dark to make out the photo, so instead on thinking deeply that night, Sakura fell asleep the moment she hit the bed.

The morning came around quicker than the speed of light. Sakura had conditioned her body to wake up at 6AM on the dot. She felt groggy as she stretched and clicked her bones, but something on the window ledge caught her eye.

The photo frame stood proudly, but the sun's reflection obstructed Sakura's ability to take in the whole photo. So, she reluctantly reached out to the frame to hold it gently in her hands.

She was slightly shocked to see that it was a photo of Itachi and Shisui…and they were both smiling.

"How…Sad." Sakura's eyes built up tears that shouldn't belong there. Was Shisui Itachi's comrade?

She shook off the shiver of pain before returning the photo frame to its' original position before she walked from the bedroom to the main living space to find that Shisui was sprawled out on the sofa…still catching the z's

Sakura assumed that he didn't have a spare room at all and he'd decided he'd take the sofa. Shaking her head slightly, she quietly walked to the fridge, only to find that it was empty.

She decided that the least she could do was to treat her host to breakfast for the roof over her head. Sakura fitted her shoes on before darting to the markets to get the necessary ingredients for a full English breakfast, a meal which she had recently discovered on her trips while she was in the ANBU taskforce.

She returned to Shisui's house, unaware of the other Uchiha in the compound had noticed her presence as she walked through Shisui's door, and started to fire up the oven.

As Sakura guessed, Shisui woke up the moment she laid the bacon rashers on the scorching hot pan.

"Ugh," He groaned sleepily, causing Sakura to turn around.

Before she could get a bearing on what Shisui was doing, he'd wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on the top of her head.

Sakura froze momentarily, letting the hot oil spit up at her cold skin, before she looked up to force Shisui to lift his head up.

"What are you doing?" She questioned in a blunt tone of voice. Shisui simply smirked at her before walking off in the direction of his room. "I hope there not some weird Uchiha thing about a woman accepting hospitality or some weird shit like that…" Sakura muttered out loud before tending to the breakfast, slightly missing Shisui's warmth.

Shisui re-entered the room before falling lazily back onto the sofa.

"I noticed that the Photo in my room had been moved…" was the first thing Shisui said. Sakura tensed up, wondering just how much attention this guy paid to detail.

"I recognise Itachi…I've never seen him smile…It made me want to really check if it was a genuine smile or a stain on the glass of the photo." Sakura half fabricated as she finished up the rest of the breakfast.

"You know Itachi?" He asked, curious to hear more about his friend from an outsider.

"I don't really know him…I've just seen him before."

"Ah…Well, the best time to see Itachi smile, is when he's with his younger brother. My god it's the cutest expression I've ever seen on Itachi's face. He values his younger brother more than anything else." Shisui easily gave out information. However, Sakura scoffed.

"That's hard for me to believe." Sakura murmured to herself as she served the food on two separate plates, she took out cutlery before handing over one plate and one set of cutlery to Shisui.

Placing herself on a single sofa and crossing her legs, she tucked into her own food.

"What's this?" Shisui questioned as he played about with his food a bit.

"It's Bacon, Sausage, an Egg, beans, mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. It's a fatty meal that helps build up stamina if you're aiming on training that section…otherwise regarded as a comfort meal." Sakura explained through bites of her mushrooms.

"I'm a vegetarian." He stated, feigning disappointment. Sakura was fooled as her face turned from satisfied to miserable within a millisecond. "Just joking!"

Sakura blinked slowly, as if to calm herself down, while Shisui wolfed down the food in pure delight.

"Oh. By the way…" Shisui continued as Sakura started eating her food again. "Itachi is due to come around in a few minutes, I'll get him to help with your training today. He passed his Genin test when he was only 7 years old you know!" Shisui boasted with pride, unaware of Sakura choking on her food at the sudden news. "How lucky are you! Huh? Getting to train with a prodigy."

"U-Um…Shisui," Sakura said after clearing her airways of food. "I can only assume that Itachi is a very busy person, I wouldn't want to impede on his time." She spoke honestly. She didn't know if she was ready to see the source of Sasuke's pain.

"Oh, It's no hassle! I'm sure Itachi would be fine with it!" He shouted reassuringly before taking his empty plate and dumping it noisily in the sink. "Those clothes you're wearing look a bit too big on you though, Sakura. Let me fix you up something…" His voice trailed off as he went into his room.

Sakura didn't notice just how baggy her clothes were until Shisui pointed it out. Sighed deeply and regretted ever accepting Shisui's offer.

"Here! This is perfect! This will look cute on you with your pink hair and stuff." He commented easily as he took Sakura's half eaten food from her to replace it with a pair of very short black shorts and a navy-blue top with the Uchiha crest on the back, very similar to Sasuke's shirt he used to wear. "Quickly, get changed. He'll be here any minute, I want you to make a good impression on him." Shisui shooed her away.

Sakura hesitated slightly before getting changed into the given clothes, folding her old ones up in a neat pile on the end of Shisui's bed. Reattaching her cream coloured pouch to her hip, she checked herself out in the mirror before frowning. She felt like the high collar blocking the view of her hair made her look chubby. She got a hair band out of her pouch and carefully tied her hair up unto a high ponytail.

Smiling to herself in satisfaction, she exited the room and walked back to Shisui.

"These clothes are a perfect fit. What size are you?" Sakura asked nonchalantly before noticing Itachi's presence.

She couldn't hide the fear that flashed across her face as she defensively flared her chakra as if to prepare for a fight, an action that Itachi didn't fail to notice.

However, Itachi didn't even humour her with a greeting while he wondered why her reaction was so different to the last time they met.

' _Is she really that oblivious to not recognise me out of my ANBU gear?_ ' Itachi thought to himself as he looked over at his friend.

"Oh! Itachi! This is Sakura, and Sakura…You know who this is." Shisui introduced gleefully. Sakura regained composure while avoiding eye contact with Itachi.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." She responded bluntly.

"Are we all ready to go to the grounds? I'm eager to find out what I can teach little Sakura." Shisui spoke fondly as he rushed to get his sandals on.

' _Is Shisui really a powerful Uchiha?_ ' Sakura sweat-dropped while following him outdoors.

She felt nervous as Itachi decided to walk behind her rather than next to his friend, but she couldn't let Itachi get suspicious of her, easier said than done.

"Okay, little lady-"

"-Sakura."

"Okay, Sakura."

Shisui stood proudly as they reached the training grounds.

"What would you like to learn about?" He questioned. Sakura tilted her head to the side in serious contemplation, wondering what her weak points were.

"Seals." She responded after a while, causing Shisui to chuckle.

"You're not even a Genin, you wouldn't be able to comprehend seals."

Sakura reluctantly bit her tongue.

"Then I would like to learn about precision at a speed."

As if to scare Sakura, Shisui threw a Shuriken to brush by her cheek. However, much to both the Uchiha's surprise, Sakura caught the Shuriken easily.

She inwardly planned that if she showed her strength in front of Itachi, he'd feel threatened enough to change his focus onto her, rather than the strong clan of the Uchiha.

"That was a poor demonstration of accuracy." Sakura mocked, triggering a smirk from Shisui.

"Okay, how about a sparring session? It will give me a better understanding of what your weaknesses are…and we can go from there."

"Sure." Sakura agreed, readying herself for her first fight.

* * *

 _A/N: sorry for the shorter chapter! (And for any spelling mistakes) Please review and thank you for reading ^_^_

 _Also, Pairings for Sakura are still open for suggestions_


	3. Overwhelming emotions

Shisui was the first to make a move, charging at Sakura with the infamous Uchiha speed she'd already grown accustomed to.

Sakura confidently reared her fist back in preparation to knock Shisui out. However, he suddenly disappeared from her sights.

Sakura rushed to look at her surroundings before concluding that he must've entered the ground beneath her. Changing the course of her fist, she created a small quake in the earth as rubble dangerously flew up from the ground, revealing Shisui amongst the debris.

"What monstrous strength for a little girl…" He muttered curiously before activating his Sharingan, hoping to capture her in his Genjustu.

Sakura collapsed on her knees as her expression turned blank. Itachi, who was initially watching the fight with curiosity, lost interest almost instantly.

"Heheh." Shisui giggled to himself as he gracefully jumped in front of Sakura, "And that's how-"

His words were interrupted with a brutal punch to the stomach, making him double over from the air escaping his body. Sakura then swept her leg under Shisui and he fell onto the ground with a dull thud before she stood up straight.

"Is that all you've got?" Sakura taunted, pulling at the collar of the shirt she was wearing.

"Mercy, I can't breathe." Shisui struggled through pained breaths, earning him a huge grin from Sakura.

Itachi looked on and wondered if he should intervene. He eventually decided against it and instead activated his Sharingan to assess the girl in front of him.

He frowned in pure disdain as his Sharingan couldn't see a thing. If he didn't witness that fight, his Sharingan would have told him that this girl was a plain civilian. She was actively blocking the Sharingan, which was something even the Hokage couldn't do. He made it his personal mission to find out more about this kunoichi.

"Let me take a look at the damage." She stated in her usual nurse-like tone. Shisui flinched away from the small girl. Not in pain, but in uncertainty of her intentions. However, his efforts of escaping her grasp were futile as he could barely move.

"Hmm." She hummed as she hovered her hands over Shisui's torso and shins. "Just a single fractured rib and a swelling on your left shin…Are you really _that_ intolerant to pain?" She continued as she easily fixed his fractured rib with little effort.

Shisui ignored her comment about pain as he looked closely at Sakura's hand.

"Medical jutsu?" Shisui commented after regaining his breath. Sakura looked at him briefly before nodding.

"Yeah, at least one in every three shinobi are capable of Medical jutsu…I trained under Lady Tsunade too. So, I guess I'm a better medic than the average shinobi…" Sakura gloated, hoping Itachi would be listening.

" _Lady_ Tsunade?" Shisui asked, looking to Itachi for help. Sakura followed his line of sight and noticed that Itachi's eyes had flashed a dangerous red in her direction, which only resulted in her smirking.

' _Cute…He's trying to drag me into his Genjutsu_.' She thought to herself before offering her hand out to Shisui.

"She means the legendary Sanin, Tsunade." Itachi clarified, closing the space between the three shinobi while keeping a harsh look on Sakura.

"Oh…oh wow! Well with that demonstration, you're going to pass the Genin and Chunin exams with no problem, we could learn a thing or two from you in fact. How old are you again?"

"Twelve."

"Only one year younger than us." He smiled brightly, patting Itachi on the shoulder.

"Age is not a measure of strength." Itachi retorted, his eyes returning to their passive onyx state.

"Why not test that Theory? You're almost suggesting that I would win in a fight if I was against you." Sakura scoffed, relaxing her stance a little.

"I don't have the luxury of time to play games with kids." Itachi bit back before carefully removing Shisui's hand from his shoulder. Sakura narrowed her eyes while taking Itachi's comment offensively.

"That's very cowardly of you. But I guess Uchiha's aren't really all what they make themselves out to be."

Shisui looked over at her with sad eyes, reminding her yet again that not all Uchiha's are like Sasuke.

"Don't push me, girl." Itachi responded in a serious tone, further agitating Sakura.

"Or what, you'll kill my clan?" Sakura clapped hands over her mouth animatedly. Before Itachi could shoot a scowl in her direction, he found himself faced with the familiar cherry blossom petals.

' _Is she aware of Danzo's plans?_ ' Itachi thought to himself before promptly playing off his irritation.

"I need to get ready for my shift, I don't think it's wise to have her running around the village wearing our clan symbol on her back." He stated as if asking Shisui to get it from her.

"Um…I need to head out on my assigned mission today, and I need to leave at 10 the very latest. I'll be out of the village for a month." Shisui informed, knowing that Itachi wouldn't be happy with the news.

"I'll get the shirt from her then." Itachi sighed

* * *

Sakura kept herself hidden from Itachi during the wait till her exam. Cursing herself for her stupidity over and over while hoping that the Hokage didn't witness or recognise that slip up.

Thinking back to when she was in the tower with Tsunade confronting the Hokage, she wondered what made Sarutobi believe their story so easily. Sure, he found a suspicious scroll...but nothing was really backing up their story...for all Sarutobi knew, Sakura could be a spy from another village. she shook off the thought quickly, realising that it would only distract her from doing well in her exam.

The afternoon came around quite quickly, so without hesitation, Sakura had leisurely walked to the academy.

"Believe it, asshole!" A familiar blond boy shouted, catching Sakura's attention immediately.

She couldn't help but smile as she saw her old class in the middle of a sparring session.

"You couldn't even lay a finger on me if you tried." Sasuke retorted. Sakura looked over at him before sadness welled up inside her. He used to be so innocent…and to think that she had been forced to kill him in another timeline…

"Bunny Lady!" Naruto shouted, surprising his fellow class mates and his sensei. He ran up to Sakura with a huge smile on his face.

"Naruto, you can't just run out of a lesson like that…" Sakura started before ruffling his hair. "Why are you calling me bunny lady anyway?" She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Because you looked like a little bunny when you jumped from the scaffolding yesterday." Naruto laughed as he scratched his head. Sakura smiled sweetly at Naruto's innocent words.

"Naruto, class isn't over yet." Iruka's voice boomed over the grounds, making Sakura flinch.

"I don't care, I'd rather learn from this lady! She's nice!" he rudely retorted, making Sakura blush.

"O-oh." She unwillingly stuttered.

"Who are you?" Iruka, clearly annoyed, sighed as he walked over to Naruto.

"I'm Sakura, I'm here to take the Genin test today." Sakura politely answered, making Iruka perk up a bit.

"Perfect! You've arrived here at an opportune moment, Sakura." He responded as he beckoned her to follow him back to the class of young shinobi. Naruto ran ahead of the two to rejoin the rest of the class.

A pang of pain shot through Sakura's heart as she looked at her former, and younger, companions. She would have to rely solely on Tsunade to offload all her troubles to in the future.

"I'll be getting Sakura here," Iruka started to speak to the class as he put both of his hands on Sakura's shoulders. "To demonstrate what kind of skills you need to work towards if you hope on becoming a Genin." Iruka finished. Sakura nervously looked at the group of kids before her eyes fell on Sasuke.

He was looking up at her with burning determination in his eyes, something that she'd not seen the positive side of for years.

"The Hokage has informed me that you're a strong Kunoichi." Iruka said out loud, snapping Sakura's focus on him.

"He's not wrong." Sakura joked halfheartedly, the class laughing comically at her comment.

"To prove you're able enough to fight on the battlefield, I'd like for you to perform your signature jutsu." He demanded while removing his hands from Sakura's shoulders before sternly crossing his arms. Sakura sweat dropped before giving Iruka a strange look.

"I'm not sure about that, Iruka…I specialise in Medical jutsu, and I can't prove my worth unless there's a severely injured shinobi lying around…and my other signature jutsu is too strong to perform here. I'd end up destroying the Academy…"

"Yeah! Destroy the academy! Do it!" Naruto cheered on before Sasuke whacked him around the head.

"Shut up, Idiot!" He scolded quietly. Sakura couldn't help but smile at the two.

Iruka relaxed his arms.

"That's hard to believe." Iruka muttered almost inaudibly… _Almost_. Sakura narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at Iruka.

"Why don't I use you as a target?" Sakura suggested sarcastically.

"Not a bad Idea." Iruka agreed swiftly, making his class gasp loudly.

"Uh…I was joking, I would most definitely damage your body into something similar to a coma state…" Sakura informed.

"Okay then. On my mark, you have 3 seconds to land a hit on me. If you don't, you fail. Sound fair?" Iruka offered, confident that Sakura couldn't manage it. The children gasped in shock as they looked from Iruka to Sakura.

However, all Sakura could do was wince in pity before nodding in agreement to his terms.

"Alright, You kids get back." Sakura said. The kids excitedly ran to the wall of the academy to watch the test.

"Normally, these tests wouldn't be as informal as this, but Sakura is an exception." Iruka informed the children before he got into a defensive stance "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep."

"I believe in you Sakura!" Naruto roared happily, earning himself another hit and a firm telling off from Sasuke.

"Go." Iruka said, assuming that he had the upper hand as Sakura was looking over at her former comrades.

 _1_

Sakura's body had dispersed into soft pink petals as she subtly performed a clone jutsu in the handy cover of her floating petal transportation jutsu.

 _2_

Half of the petals had materialised into a clone of Sakura in front of Iruka aiming a textbook punch at his face. Iruka easily caught her wrists with the intention of opening his mouth to call off the exam as the remaining petals brushed past his body.

 _3_

Sakura's clone had disappeared in front of Iruka's eyes while the rest of the petals materialised into Sakura's true body at Iruka's side. She landed a hit square in Iruka's jaw. There was a horrendous sound that tore through Sakura's eardrums. Iruka had let his guard down too early which in turn magnified the severity of the hit.

Luckily, Iruka instantly blacked out. His body flew through the air before landing on the ground harshly.

"Whoa! I want to be as powerful as Sakura!" Naruto commented in pure admiration.

Ignoring the stunned kids, Sakura casually rushed to Iruka's side to examine the damage she'd made.

His jaw was hanging on by the skin and joint on the right side of his face…just barely, and he was bleeding out dangerously. His eyes were rolled back in his head and his breathing was irregular. She started to hyperventilate at the wound she created and was too shocked to notice that Itachi had walked over to her.

"D-Don't come over here kids…" Sakura warned in a shaky tone as she quickly tried to work on Iruka.

"Itachi!" Sasuke shouted with a happy tone. Sakura was numb to her surroundings as she started to panic. She never meant to exert that much chakra…had her natural strength progressed that far?

Itachi looked down at the girl and Iruka before halting Sasuke back with his hand.

"Return to your classroom. We'll be with you in a few minutes." Itachi directed. Sasuke would have rebelled if it weren't for the serious look on Itachi's face. So, instead he lead the class back into the academy, dragging Naruto back by the scruff of his collar.

Itachi noticed that Sakura had completely lost her cool composure that she'd had earlier on in the day. Silently noting that her hands were shaking and she wasn't using her chakra properly, he reluctantly bent down to her height ignoring the gruesome scene underneath him and lifted Sakura's hands up.

"Take a deep breath, Sakura." He said in a clear, monotonous hum, causing Sakura to cry. "Get a hold of yourself and heal this man." He finished in a sharper tone.

Sakura nodded her head slowly before Itachi let go of her hands. She took a moment to breathe deeply, during this time, Itachi hesitantly held Iruka's dangling jaw in place with both hands in the hopes that he was helping Sakura prepare for the healing session.

"Alright…" Sakura exhaled softly before placing her hands over Itachi's. "Don't move, I'm going to heal his jaw through your hands." She instructed.

Itachi refrained from gagging as she put slight bit of pressure on one of his hands to pop Iruka's jaw back in place.

"I just need to reattach the torn muscles and rejuvenate his bone and skin structure. It should take ten minutes at a push." Sakura continued as her breathing became laboured.

Itachi looked plainly at the girl in front of him, growing more suspicious of her power the longer she worked on Iruka. He could feel that Iruka's skin beneath his hands were plumping up and he could only assume that she was healing him successfully, without the aid of medicinal tools. This girl is definitely strange, and Itachi wondered if she was even born in this village...considering he had no recollection of ever seeing her before yesterday.

He looked down at Iruka and slightly winced at the amount of blood that surrounded his face.

' _The pain must have been excruciating...probably the reason to why he's out cold...'_ Itachi mused inwardly.

"Won't he feel an unbearable amount of pain when he regains consciousness?" Itachi spoke his thoughts, earning a short glance from Sakura.

"No. I've inserted some of my chakra to remain in Iruka's face for at least three days, which will constantly numb his Jaw until my stored chakra has burned out…He'll barely be able to feel a thing once that happens." Sakura explained.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at her. He was no expert when it came to medical jutsu…But he was certain that the jutsu she was performing was way more advanced than she should know, being from a clan with no name or formidable talents, even if she did train under Tsunade…he held no trust in Sakura.

A few minutes of tense silence passed before Sakura slid her hands gently off of Itachi's and leaned back on her legs.

"He's…he's fine." She panted as she wiped the sweat away from her brow. "Thank you…Itachi." She reluctantly thanked before feeling a rush of dizziness enter her head.

A few seconds of greyness had passed Sakura's sight before she felt a cold sting to her cheek. A few splatters of blood had flew off Itachi's hand due to the force of the slap..

Itachi had backhanded her to reality.

"Sorry." Sakura muttered before reaching into her pouch to pop a solider pill in her mouth.

"Where did you get those? Only Jonin level shinobi are permitted to buy them from the market..." Itachi questioned, not failing to notice the brief look of worry that shot across Sakura's face.

"I made these." She answered plainly, trying to act tough. Itachi ignored her answer as he looked back down to Iruka.

"What were you trying to do, attacking a member of the village like that?" Itachi interrogated before standing up to look down at her. Sakura scrunched her nose up before standing up straight.

"I was doing what was necessary to pass my Genin test."

"And you thought you'd kill him to pass?"

"I wasn't supposed to punch him that hard...he let his guard down too." Sakura almost whimpered in regret, causing Itachi to sigh before picking Iruka up.

"I'm going to check him in at the hospital...You need to report this to the hokage." Itachi said in a blunt tone before leaving.

Sakura sighed in defeat as she slumped her shoulders, knowing that Itachi was right. She'd have to learn how to control her power one way or another.

She went to Iruka's classroom first, to inform the kids that the day was over, before she dragged herself to the Hokage Tower.

* * *

The hokage wasn't too surprised at Sakura's report. When Sakura asked him about his lack of concern, he simply told her that He and Tsunade had been speaking for a long time before and after he'd seen her in his office. Which didn't necessarily put her mind at ease, but she accepted his reaction nevertheless.

He then informed her that she would be placed in a temporary team in correspondence to the fast approaching Chunin exams. He informed her that it wouldn't be with people that she knew, as he'd spoke with the council to sort the team out previously in the day. However, she was to get acquainted with them over dinner at one of the fancy restaurants...Although he also informed her that he'd assign two strong shinobi to accompany her, as the two team mates which would fight beside her were Danzo's choice...Sakura's quick understanding of Sarutobi's suspicions had unsettled him deeply.

So now a very formally dressed Sakura was standing outside of the fancy restaurant in tight fitting red dress that complimented her hair and her figure. However, she was slightly shivering at the cold temperature of the evening.

"Oh, it's you." A grey haired shinobi spoke out, catching Sakura completely off-guard. She was about to retort but she was just struck with sudden speech loss as she took in Kakashi's appearance with innocently wide eyes.

He was dressed up in a clean navy blue suit with a grey tie to match. Sakura couldn't help the light dusting of pink on her cheeks as she took in his outfit, noting that some of his muscles had complimented his figure quite generously and dangerously in some places...

' _Kakashi sure can dress to impress when he's putting the effort in...'_ Sakura mused happily to herself.

"And _I'm_ perverted one." Kakashi chuckled, softly elbowing his companion which Sakura didn't notice until now...It was Itachi.

Itachi was in a slimmer fitted pure black suit with a deep red tie, not even humouring Sakura with a second glance. Sakura simply ignored him back in a childish manner.

"I-I wasn't thinking about you in a perverted way or anything!" Sakura waved her hands around as she defended herself, her face growing redder with each word.

"I didn't suggest that you were." Kakashi responded sharply, thoroughly enjoying the Pinkette squirming.

"That guy you almost killed is doing fine by the way." Itachi interjected the fun with what he thought would be a hard hitting comment.

" _Iruka_ shouldn't have let his guard down then, _Uchiha_." Sakura hissed in response, hitting a small nerve as she refused to call him by his first name.

"Iruka? What happened?" Kakashi questioned as he looked over to Itachi.

"This girl decided that it would be appropriate to attempt a brutal murder in front of Sasuke's class." Itachi answered smoothly, the words falling out of his mouth easily.

"Actually," Sakura started matter-of-factually. "Iruka wanted me to show him my signature move as my physical part in the test. I informed him that my strongest element is my Medical jutsu so I couldn't show him that...And my second strongest is my taijutsu...however, I said I'd end up demolishing the school in the process..." Sakura relaxed her posture as she continued explaining. Kakashi keeping an amused look on his face as he listened closely. "So then I sarcastically suggested that I use him as a target, as he doubted my abilities. he seemed all for it... Even after I warned him of the dangers and he didn't listen so he gave me 3 seconds to land a punch on him..." Sakura leaned to the side and delicately brushed back some of her hair behind her ears. "It turned out to be really easy to punch him because he let his guard down and I kinda tore apart half of his jaw..."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow while glancing over at his companion. Itachi's face twitched in disgust, making Kakashi grow more curious about the Pinkette.

"But, I _did_ fix his jaw better than the hospital would have been able to manage and everything seems to be in check." Sakura said, locking eyes with Itachi briefly, trying to show what little amount of gratitude as she could manage.

"Now I'm just itching for a battle." Kakashi chuckled softly.

"I watched her fighting skills this morning. She's nothing special." Itachi stated bluntly, causing Sakura's eyebrow to twitch in irritation.

"Listen here you little shit-" Sakura started in a dangerous tone before a familiar man caught her eye. "...Sai?" Sakura breathed as she looked past Itachi.

Sai was in a dark grey suit with a black tie. Walking next to him in sync was what Sakura could only assume to be Sai's close friend that he considered to be a brother...Shin.

Shin was dressed in a lighter grey suit with a white tie. Sakura looked at him cautiously, remembering the story that Sai had once told her.

"I'm taking a wild guess in saying that you're the pink-haired girl who we have to team up with." Sai stated, keeping emotionless as he locked eyes with Sakura.

"That's right...And you two are?" Sakura probed, just in case Sai was set a different name.

"I'm Kezune and this is Kai." Shin spoke up cheerfully as he pointed to himself and Sai in turn, causing Sakura to frown. An action that didn't go unnoticed.

"Is there something the matter?" Sai spoke up, snapping Sakura out of her daydream.

"Uh...I don't mean to be rude when I say." Sakura started before looking over at Shin. "Kezune looks like he's sick."

The sudden observation seemed to surprise Shin. However, it seemed like only Sakura noticed the flicker of shock that crossed his features.

"Don't fret Sakura, I am just light-skinned. I get that comment all the time." Shin dismissed her comment easily before offering his arm to her. "Shall we?" He asked gentlemanly. Catching Sakura completely off-guard. She smiled sweetly at him before gently taking his arm.

"Why, Of Course. I do look forward to getting to know you." Sakura giggled before they all entered the restaurant.

* * *

 _A/N: Another chapter up finally! ;_; I couldn't find out the age when Shin died so I'm simply just keeping him alive for ease of team building ._

 _Thank you for reading and thank you guys so much for reviewing! :D I hope to update with a new chapter soon ^_^_

 _Please excuse any spelling mistakes!_


	4. Suspicions

Sakura nervously twiddled her fingers as everyone placed their orders with the waitress. She had never sat so close to Kakashi before…and the thought of being sandwiched between him and Itachi didn't sit well with her.

"-And what would you like?" Sakura vaguely heard someone aiming a question at her so she looked up at the waitress, who was looking down at her.

"I've already ate. I'll just have a…" Sakura starts before looking quickly through the drinks menu. "You know what, I'll just have a glass of water with a slice of lemon and lime please." She finished. The Waitress scowled slightly at Sakura before scribbling down her order.

"The food should be with you in 30 minutes today I'm afraid, We're quite understaffed. But we will all work towards getting the food to you in a timely manner." The waitress apologised before walking away from the table.

Sakura looked at the back of her head, as if to read her mind. Something about the waitress made Sakura feel perturbed.

"When did you find the time to eat?" Itachi questioned, in Sakura's mind uncharacteristically, as he turned his head to face Sakura.

"I picked myself up a snack on the way to my…uh…apartment." Sakura lied, Itachi seemed to believe what she said as he looked from Sakura to Kakashi and started a quiet conversation with him.

Sakura decided that during her dining experience in a new restaurant this far back in time, that she would not eat anything so that her senses were heightened, in case anything was poisoned.

"So, Sakura." Sai spoke up, snapping Sakura out of her daydream. "Since we'll be working in the same team, I think it's best that we exchange information about each other."

"Well, that does make sense…" Sakura giggled softly as a glass of dirty water was placed in front of her, half full and lacking the requested fruit. "Excuse me." Sakura called out to the waitress that was about to walk off.

"Yes, what is the problem?" she responded in a patronising way.

"It seems that you've served me the wrong drink." Sakura gave the waitress a chance, but she wouldn't be able to keep her calm for too much longer.

"I can't see the problem here, kid." The waitress crossed her arms, which propped up her already huge breasts, something Sakura only saw as a cry for attention.

"Okay," Sakura growled slight at the waitress. "I think you might need glasses because for starters, the glass is half full, and you seem to have forgotten the purity and the fruits in the water. In fact, it just looks like you've urinated…" Sakura says as she picks up the cup, subtly infusing her hand with chakra to form a thin layer of protection around it like a glove, and sniffs it slightly. "You've literally pissed in my cup and served it to me, what kind of service is that." Sakura finished in a louder, more agitated tone.

"Oh…" The waitress nervously looked around her shoulder. Sakura peeked around her shoulder too to see a big brute man sipping on what Sakura assumed to be, her drink. "I'm deeply sorry about that! I do normally wear my glasses but today I was told to leave them at home to keep a more professional look…" She muttered off before reaching out to grab the glass. "I'll make you a new one straight away."

Sakura pulled the cup away from the outstretched hand of the waitress before examining the glass further.

"That fucking pig…" Sakura muttered as she noticed wide, slightly dirty fingerprints on the side of the glass. "Sorry, please excuse me for a second." Sakura apologised before expertly climbing over Itachi.

"Oh…miss!" The waitress held Sakura's shoulder as she whispered. "I wouldn't mess with our manager, he can be really aggressive when he's confronted." She finished, shaking slightly in fear which made Sakura angry. She smiled at the waitress slightly before looking at her wrist and arm through the sleeve which was now exposed. Displaying red marks and bruises, Sakura couldn't stop her anger from escaping her.

"Don't you worry. This won't take a second."

"Sakura, I don't think it's wise to pick a fight here." Kakashi noticed Sakura's dangerously heavy aura but his words were pointless. Sakura carefully removed the waitresses hand from her shoulder and stormed over to the manager before chucking the glass of urine in his face.

"Are you enjoying the drink I paid for, dirty pig?" Sakura hissed at the gross man. He grunted furiously before picking up the glass he was drinking from. He took a few milliseconds to compose himself and wipe his face down, allowing Sakura to carefully place the cup down and prepare to defend herself.

"You fucking bitch," He growled venomously as he smashed the glass on the table, gaining the attention of everyone in the restaurant, before striking at Sakura.

Sakura dodged all the attempted strikes with ease as he had no particular technique in fighting.

"Stop, moving!" he continued flailing around. Sakura found an opportunity to strike back but Itachi had swiftly got in the middle of the two and stopped both of them.

"This is not an appropriate place to fight." He stated monotonously. Sakura was about to wind herself down but Itachi seemed to have let his guard down. The brute man started to aim a strike at Itachi instead.

Sakura hesitantly shielded Itachi from the attack as the broken glass cup tore through her arm horrifically, in the same instance Sakura used her right had to deliver an ordinary blow to the managers face, knocking him out cold.

"What the hell is his problem. What kind of manager does that?" Sakura laughed triumphantly as she turned back to the group she was supposed to be eating with.

Sakura looked puzzled as they were all staring at her, she was about to speak up before she noticed that the whole restaurant was onlooking the bizarre situation.

"He peed in my cup, don't worry, he deserved that punch." Sakura tried to reassure the crowd.

"Sakura…Your left arm." Kakashi pointed with an ill look on his face. Sakura looked down and noticed that the glass cut deeper than she initially thought, but she wasn't worried because she could fix it quickly.

"Haha…. At least the blood didn't get on my dress!" Sakura joked as she hovered her right hand over her left arm. "I'm okay guys, Sorry for interrupting your meals!" Sakura turned around and called. However, the whole room was silent.

"Someone had to stand up to him!" a man spoke up from the corner of the room. "He's a bully and he deserved what was coming to him."

After that statement, the room started to fill with noise again making Sakura sigh in relief. She sat herself back down on the seat next to Kakashi.

"Um…I'm really sorry about that." Sakura apologised again. "I can tell that he's been getting away with abuse…" Sakura hissed softly to the waitress.

"Uh…He did deserve that…but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now." She turned back around to where the unconscious manager should by lying but he was nowhere to be seen, neither was Itachi.

"I guess the problem has already been sorted." Sakura smiled sweetly. "I plan on getting the police involved too…if you don't mind." Sakura said absently before turning back to the table.

"So, I'm ultimately an expert in medical jutsu as I trained under one of the legendary Sanin." Sakura restarted the previous conversation but she noticed that Kakashi was leaning away from her.

"What's wrong, wimp?" Sakura teased with a smirk on her face.

"Don't you need to go to a hospital or something?" He suggested timidly, making Sakura grin further.

"I'm an expert." Sakura repeated before removing her hand. She'd completely closed up the wound, but there were still streaks of blood running down her arm. "Could I have a damp towel please?" she asked the waitress. The waitress walked off without saying a thing as Itachi had returned from wherever he went.

"Let's go. Sakura has caused too much trouble here." Itachi said before walking away. Shin and Sai immediately followed after him.

"What's he in a mood for?" Sakura muttered childishly before reluctantly following after the shinobi. Kakashi was close behind, not uttering a single word.

Itachi lead them to a familiar building in the Uchiha compound before rummaging around in his pocket for keys.

"This is Shisui's house. Aren't you trespassing?" Sakura spoke up, but her question was ignored. After Itachi unlocked the door, they all entered the house. Kakashi closed the door behind him as Sakura sat down on Shisui's comfortable armchair.

"That was unprofessional." Itachi commented, as if scolding Sakura. Shin and Sai wordlessly sat on the sofa as Itachi and Kakashi looked down at Sakura.

"I'm only twelve, and that guy must've been in his forties, what right does he have swapping my drink for his urine? I mean, C'mon! That's completely disgusting!" Sakura protested as she crossed her arms.

"Even as a Genin, you should know that you shouldn't be using ninjutsu on plain civilians." Itachi continued, making Sakura scoff.

"News flash, Uchiha, I didn't use an ounce of Chakra in that punch." Sakura retorted, narrowing her eyes at him.

"You're quite strong for a twelve-year-old." Shin interjected, earning him a quick sweet smile from Sakura.

"I don't believe you." Itachi said aggressively, making Kakashi flinch slightly.

"If you come over here I'll prove it." Sakura challenged.

"I think we've had enough excitement for one night." Kakashi interrupted as he waved his hands about. "Let's just get to know each other better. That's our mission after all." Kakashi reminded Itachi before they both sat down reluctantly.

"So, Sakura." Shin spoke up again. "What are your goals in life?"

Sakura pondered for a moment before sighing.

"If I'm being brutally honest, there is someone evil that I'd like to remove from this world." Sakura briefly glanced at Itachi while saying this. "This guy has the potential to completely mess up my future." Sakura muttered to herself. "But, he's someone you guys don't need to know about, he's not from this village." Sakura lied as she remembered all the good moments her and Sasuke shared before Orochimaru entered the picture. "I'd like to become a member of the ANBU squad and protect my village from harm." Sakura rambled on, rubbing her cheek as she voiced her thoughts.

"So you are from this village?" Kakashi questioned. Sakura simply nodded before taking another breath.

"My parents died during the Kyuubi attack. From my knowledge, I was born here before being taken to a small cabin just outside the village…I'm not sure what my parents were like really…" Sakura lied as a flash of pain crossed her eyes.

"How old were you when this happened?" Sai asked, as if interrogating Sakura.

"I-uh…" Sakura hesitated. "I can't quite remember." Sakura answered nervously, earning herself a sly smirk from Itachi.

"That sounds horrible." Shin responded unconvincingly as he shook his head. Suddenly Sakura could feel that pretty much everyone in the room was onto her.

"Anyway," Sakura responded too quickly. "Enough about me, What about you and Sai?" Sakura blurted before her eyes widened slightly. "I mean, Kai."

Sai remained completely composed at Sakura's slip up but she could tell that Shin tensed up.

"Well, I specialise in close combat and my friend here specialises in long range. Neither of us know medical jutsu so it will be beneficial to have someone such as yourself on our side." Shin responded. Sakura sighed in relief as the tension from the room disappeared as quick as it came.

From that point onwards, the next two hours passed quickly. Full of small talk and Sakura feeling constantly nervous about every answer she gave. She didn't anticipate that keeping things to herself would be as hard as this.

"Well, Sorry to cut a good conversation short, But Kezune and I need to rest for tomorrows mission." Sai spoke up as he got up from the sofa.

"Mission?" Sakura questioned as she tilted her head slightly.

"Sorry Sakura, this mission is confidential and it's only for Kai and I I'm afraid. We'll see you in three days before we all travel to the Sand." Shin said as he mimicked Sai.

Sakura stood up and showed the two to the door as they said their goodbyes. Sakura sighed heavily as soon as she closed the door.

"You were lying." Itachi spoke up. Making Sakura jump.

"Shit, Itachi, I forgot you were there." Sakura said, trying to divert the conversation.

"What do you mean, Itachi?" Kakashi asked as Sakura slowly walked back to her seat.

"About her parents and the attack." Itachi stated.

"Yeah, well I'd rather not talk about this, Uchiha." Sakura said defensively as she ran her hand through her hair, noticing the dried blood on her arm. "Ew…I forgot about this." She muttered to herself as she got back up from her seat to clean up the dried blood. "Well, your mission is now complete, I don't need bodyguards anymore." Sakura said, her mood slowly turning sour.

"We're waiting for you to exit Shisui's house." Kakashi informed, causing Sakura to roll her eyes.

"Alright, alright." She hummed as she dried off the water she used to clean her arm with. "I'm leaving. Night." She said before rushing out of the house.

Where was she supposed to go? It was late in the night again and she was supposed to get some camping supplies…But, yet again, the shops would be closed.

"Guess I'm sleeping rough tonight." Sakura muttered as she made her way to the training field. She stood in front of the three familiar logs before smiling. "It's not going to be the same…is it?" Sakura sighed as she ripped the sides of her dress up to her hips so that she could comfortably sit down cross legged.

For a short while Sakura felt at peace as the nights breeze rushed past her face.

"You're not from here." A deep voice suddenly spoke, disarming Sakura completely as a familiar figure pinned her down by the shoulders with his knees.

"What the hell?" Sakura blurted out instinctively as she used a bit of Chakra to enhance her eyesight. "What do you want, Orochimaru?" Sakura hissed. Orochimaru was very pleased with her reaction so he grinned in delight.

"That's a disrespectful way to treat your elders." He teased.

"And what you're doing isn't exactly what I'd call-" Sakura tried to retort but Orochimaru forced his hand on her mouth while he frowned.

"You talk too much." He spat before leaning closer to her. "You're not from here, there is no records of you in this village and I don't believe the bullshit story Sarutobi is feeding us." He voiced out loud. There was a faint rustle heard by both Sakura and Orochimaru which made Orochimaru frown further. "You're lucky this time, for the weasel interrupting this private affair, however, I promise you that I will dissect you entirely until I find out who you really are."

Orochimaru disappeared without another word, leaving Sakura breathless.

"What a fricken weirdo." Sakura muttered out loud before sitting herself up. She heard footsteps approaching from behind her, and from what Orochimaru said, she could only assume that the guy behind her was the short dark haired ANBU member who wanted to fight with her so badly.

"I'm not in the mood to fight you today." Sakura said out loud before standing up.

"What was that exchange about." He got right into the questions. Making Sakura sigh heavily.

"Look, you may have all the time in the world to spy on me. But I don't really want to be talking to anyone right now. Why don't you just go home or something." Sakura said plainly, trying to keep calm as her stress levels were rising. "Why are you spying on me anyway? If there's anyone you need to spy on, It's Itachi." She voiced honestly as she sat on top of the middle log.

"Why would that be?" The ANBU responded after a long pause.

"He's….Uh." Sakura said, thinking about the most believable fact she could say. "forget I said anything." Sakura reluctantly dropped as the ANBU member decided to take a seat next to Sakura.

"Why won't you fight me?" he asked, slightly annoying Sakura.

"I don't have to energy right now, I need to clear my mind…" Sakura openly admitted as she looked up at the sky. "I need to find a house, I need to find my place…" she continued. "I need to do so many things."

"It seems that you hate Itachi, why is that?" He interrupted. Changing the topic obviously.

"I don't hate him…I think. It's hard to explain." Sakura reflected the question obviously.

"Try me." He said as he firmly placed a hand on her shoulder, completely causing Sakura to let her guard down.

Something about this ANBU member made her feel comfortable, despite their first encounter.

"Your mind would melt if I even tried explaining." Sakura laughed before looking at the man. Slightly irritated that he was hiding his identity. "Itachi…To me it seems that Itachi isn't being honest to the village…There's something about him that makes me nervous."

"That's not because he's strong though? I've heard that he makes quite a few people nervous because of his strength." Sakura giggled at his response.

"Between you and me. I've only ever fought Itachi once, and he wasn't all that great. He doesn't scare me in that way." Sakura replied as she looked back up to the starry sky. "There is something that he's hiding and I want to find out what it is…Orochimaru scares me way more than Itachi does."

The ANBU member stiffened up as he removed his hand from Sakura's shoulder.

"Orochimaru?" he replied inquisitively.

"Yeah, but that's a personal matter. Anyway, Thanks for listening to my rambling, I feel a lot better at least getting that much off my mind. Goodnight…Uh, who are you?" Sakura said in attempts to find out this man's identity.

"Goodnight, Sakura." Was all he said before disappearing from her sight.

Sakura let out another long sigh as she made her way to the roof above Naruto's apartment to sleep for the night.

* * *

 _A.N: There may be a few mistakes in this one but thank you for reading!_


	5. Digging Up The New Past

Sakura had a rough night sleeping on top of Naruto's house out in the cold. Her stiff neck was the first thing she felt as the natural light from the sun invaded her peaceful sleep. She groaned quietly as she gingerly sat up and stretched her arms high above her head.

"Uh…" Sakura croaked as she looked down at her clothes. "Uh…" She repeated as she flattened her scruffy pink hair.

She stood up before heading towards a clothing shop.

"Ah!" Sakura decided to lift her mood as she spoke to herself. "I really need to talk to the Hokage about getting a house or something."

She reached a standard clothing shop quite quickly before looking around the shop.

"Mummy…why is that lady's dress ruined?" Sakura heard a familiar voice ask, she didn't want to turn around and put off anyone so she decided to ignore the child she could only assume to be Kiba.

"You don't need to know that. And you most certainly shouldn't be asking bold questions like that!" Kiba's mother scolded, causing Sakura to smile briefly.

' _I can't decide what kind of clothes I should buy_ ' Sakura thought as she looked through the colourful variation of clothes.

"Hi, Can I help you with anything Lady?" A man asked, making Sakura jump ever so slightly.

"Oh! Sorry, you scared me. I'm looking for a practical outfit that can withstand friction to an extent…But I kinda don't wanna look like an idiot." Sakura spoke honestly. The man lifted his hand to his chin as if to think, and that's when Sakura noticed who this man was.

"Kizashi…" Sakura muttered inaudibly as she took in this mans' features. He looked exactly like her father.

"You know what." He said finally, making Sakura jump again. "Mebuki and I have something we're working on that might be suitable for what you need. Give me a second, I'll just go and fetch her." He stated merrily before walking out of the back of the shop.

Sakura couldn't bring herself to move. That man was definitely her father…But Sakura could only assume that in this timeline…they had a child that wasn't her. She already set her mind to believe that they didn't exist in this timeline.

"Look, this outfit is supposed to be for little Sakura! I'm not willing to give this to a stranger." Mebuki's voice echoed through the shop, making Sakura's heart drop, hard.

A few tense moments of silence passed before Kezashi returned to Sakura.

"I know this sounds…Really out of the blue and It's an odd request. But will you listen to our story? I have a good feeling about you and my wife…" He trailed off as sadness welled up in his eyes. "I think you can help her." Was all he could say.

Sakura's eyes lit up slightly before she nodded in agreement.

"Absolutely, I'd love to." She said as she started to walk towards the back of the shop.

"Wait," Kizashi halted Sakura by the shoulder before handing over a brush. "I'll have to ask you to brush your hair, and for your name." He stated. Sakura made quick work of brushing her hair before she placed the brush on the desk.

"My name is Sakura Ha…" Sakura started before deciding to just stick with her first name. "Sakura." She finalised as Kizashi grinned and led her to the room his wife was in.

Sakura couldn't help the small smile that crawled on her face as she saw Mebuki sat on the table with a cup of tea in her hands.

"Really Kizashi? Bringing a Harlot back here won't look good on our business." Mebuki stated, instantly causing Sakura to snap at her.

"Excuse you! I'm only twelve years old and I could easily make you eat those words!" Sakura responded like she usually would with her mum.

Mebuki sat wide eyed for a moment before unsurely looking to Kizashi.

"This is Sakura. I think this is her." He responded gleefully as he ushered her to the seat opposite Mebuki before sitting by her side.

Mebuki's face turned gloomy as she took in the appearance of the stranger in front of her.

"I'd love to think so too, Kizashi." She started solemnly. "But our Sakura would only be eight years old." she finished before standing up without her tea cup and leaving the room.

Sakura took a second to process what was going on.

' _So, they have a 'Sakura' too...?_ '

"Sorry to be invasive…But I'm guessing that something has happened to your daughter? Perhaps I could help. I'm a Kunoichi." Sakura tried, knowing how much of a big softie her dad was to her in her old timeline. He sighed before turning to face her.

"Our daughter, Sakura…She was kidnapped five years ago."

"I'm so sorry to hear that." Sakura said genuinely as she faced her former father properly.

"We contacted the Uchiha police force and they've not got any leads on her whereabouts…her kidnapper or anything. I don't understand why someone would kidnap our little girl…She didn't even turn out to be a ninja like the toad sage suggested." Kizashi held back tears as his face gradually became super tense and red, a sign Sakura recognised as anguish.

"Sorry, the toad sage gave a prophecy about your daughter?" Sakura asked for clarification.

"Yes, I guess you're already well informed about Jiraiya then?" Kizashi questioned back. Sakura nodded. "The Prophecy first proposed that our daughter would be born with pink hair and green eyes…" he continued, considering Sakura's eyes deeply. "And then foretold the tremendous amount of power that she would possess. And to add on to that, she would be the key to true peace before she turned twenty."

Sakura poker faced Kizashi as she started to realise that this prophecy might be about her…and not their current Sakura. A heavy weight of responsibility hit her as her mouth gaped open.

"How many people knew about this prophecy?" Sakura mustered as she forced her mouth close.

"Only Jiraiya, Mebuki and I…" he replied as he picked up the tea cup his wife left on the table before he took a sip of it. "And so it went. Our beautiful baby girl was born with emerald green eyes and hair the shade of perfect pink. We were all happy and things were going brilliantly, until Jiraiya asked us to come with him to see the toad sage but to bring Sakura with us because he wanted to get a feel of Sakura's chakra. So, we did and the Toad sage shook his head at us…He told us that he must have prophesised wrong as our Sakura held no potential ability of becoming a kunoichi…" Kizashi rambled on, Sakura listening intensely.

"We weren't too upset though…We had our beautiful baby girl with us and she was so happy and we were happy that she'd never be in danger…But that same night someone broke into our house and kidnapped her…No noise, no sign of who took her…" He trailed off, angry at the infinite unanswered questions swirling through his mind.

"Can I just ask..." Sakura spoke up, before she could get too wrapped up in things. "Why are you so open with me? Is it because I remind you of her?" She attempted, hiding the hope she had for bonding with her family. Kizashi briefly looked at her before erupting in a fit of laughter.

"Not in the slightest! You may have pink hair and green eyes…but they're a different shade. No offence to you, but our Sakura is a lot more feminine and she's not as sociable as you are!" he chuckled. Sakura's facial expression completely reset as the harsh answer slapped her in the face.

"Then why are you telling me this?" Sakura asked bluntly, clear to Kizashi that she took offence to his statement.

"My wife and I saw you hit that guy last night…I also happen to know what happened to Iruka…All the parents know about that…" He mumbled off. "Anyway, back to the topic. I don't think that the Uchiha police force are looking at our case seriously…they're only dealing with, Uchiha business…I'd like to ask you to investigate my daughters case for me." He said directly.

Sakura crossed her arms before eying Kizashi suspiciously.

"Do you ask every shinobi to look for your daughter? What is it that makes you so sure that you can trust me?" Sakura repeated.

"Because you're close to the Uchiha." He said, matter-of-factly.

"What makes you say that? I've only returned to the village two days ago." Sakura reflected.

"Well…If you're not close, why would you put yourself in a life-threatening position for one?" Kizashi probed, giving Sakura a sudden realisation.

"U-Uh…Well I didn't do that," she started before waving her hands about. "I'm extremely talented with medical jutsu...That wound was the equivalent to a scratch to me."

"I will pay you! Please! I want my daughter back!" Kizashi raised his voice, snapping Sakura out of her nervous state.

' _Well…It will test my skills while I'm waiting for Shin and Sai to return from their mission…I might be able to at least find a lead…or something…_ ' Sakura mused while un crossing her arms.

"Fine, I will try my best to help you find your daughter…but I don't want to take your money for it…" Sakura decided finally.

Kizashi smiled slightly before reaching his hand out to shake Sakura's. She simply grinned before giving him a very firm handshake.

"I will need to get some supplies…My belongings got lost on the way home and I need to gear up." Sakura stated.

As if on que, Mebuki re-entered the room with an outfit she'd never seen before.

"You should find these clothes fit your requirements." Mebuki said with a shaky voice as if she had just been crying.

Sakura stood up from the table and walked over to Mebuki before taking in the appearance of the outfit.

Mebuki held a slim dark grey hoodie up. The fabric surrounding the arms looked to be tight fitting but the bottom of the torso part of the hoodie was a bit looser. The hood was pointed and slightly bigger than Sakura's head.

"This looks like an oversized hoodie…No offence." Sakura said honestly.

"Put it on and give it a chance…I worked for some time on this." Mebuki pleaded, sniffing away some tears. "Oh. And don't forget the boots…otherwise your legs would be completely exposed to attack." Mebuki informed as she shooed Sakura into the changing rooms with her boots and outfit.

Sakura speedily put the outfit and long black boots on and found herself surprised at how secure it made her feel. She held her hands out as she checked herself out in the long mirror. She didn't notice the additional short shorts attached to the bottom of the hoodie until she put the outfit on.

"I don't look half bad…This hoodie was made for stealth..." She murmured softly as she twisted her waist and arms to feel for ease of moment.

"I'll buy this." Sakura said out loud as she pulled back the curtains exited the dressing room.

"Excellent! That will be-" Mebuki started.

"Free if you find anything out about our daughter." Kizashi finished. Mebuki was close to complaining but after she looked at her husbands' face, she instantly gave the thought of charging her.

"That's very kind of you…but please don't put all of your hopes in me. I may not be able to find out anything." Sakura said grimly before binning the dress she was previously wearing. "Can I see your daughters room?"

"There's no use in looking in there. The Police found nothing." Mebuki said.

"I'll start elsewhere then," Sakura concluded as she headed for the exit. "I hope to return with good news." Sakura said as she left the building.

She let out a huge sigh before grinning.

"It's a good thing they gave me this for free, I left my bag on the roof." Sakura murmured as she walked in the direction of Naruto's house. "My parents…" Sakura solemnly hummed before shaking off the thought. "They're not them."

"Bunny Lady!" Naruto yelled loud enough to grab her attention.

"Hey Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura questioned as she smiled sweetly at Naruto.

"I'm heading to class now, I'm going to work hard to become Hokage y'know!" He boasted as he threw his hands behind his head. "You don't really look like much of a bunny anymore though." Naruto sulked.

Sakura laughed before taking off two white hair bands from her wrist before quickly tying her hair up into a puffy high ponytail.

"How about now, now that my long ears are out?" Sakura giggled, causing Naruto to laugh too.

"Not even close! Anyway! I gotta shoot! See ya later!" Naruto shouted as he ran off to the academy.

Sakura smiled before hopping onto the roof of Narutos house, only to find that her supplies had been moved.

"Crap." She mumbled before noticing her sensei staring at her from the other side of the roof. "Lady Tsunade!" Sakura shouted gleefully before approaching her.

"I'm not impressed." Tsunade voiced as she threw Sakura's pouch to her. "I heard about what happened last night."

"Yeah…I'm sorry about that. But Tsunade, Orochimaru keeps confronting me. It's weird, just last night he was harassing me-" Sakura started.

"He was with me last night." Tsunade stated, shutting Sakura up. "Please behave yourself Sakura," she pleaded as Orochimaru appeared by Tsunade's side.

"We've been summoned by Sarutobi." Orochimaru informed Tsunade in a flirtatious tone, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sakura.

"I'll see you later Sakura. Keep out of trouble." Tsunade said as both her and Orochimaru promptly left.

Sakura stared blankly at nothing in particular before she looked down at her pouch.

"This won't go with my outfit." Sakura said, trying to shake her thoughts away.

She went back into town to buy a tight medium sized grey band with a large grey pouch attached to the back. She transferred all her belongings across before walking to the edge of the Uchiha compound.

"I'll have to get the case file from the police office…" Sakura murmured as she took in a deep breath and stretched her arm. "This might be tricky but let's give this a shot-"

"Sakura!" a voice boomed, causing Sakura to jump out of her skin. She looked to her right before seeing Iruka walk towards her with something in his hands. "This is for you passing the test, the Hokage marked your theory and told me you got all answers correct."

Sakura shuffled uncomfortably as she internally thanked the hokage for lying on her behalf.

"I can't exactly remember testing your physical skills…but I've been told that you were good enough to pass for Genin rank so Congratulations!" He finished as he handed over a red headband. "I would stay and talk more but I have a class to teach. Good luck!"

Iruka ran off as quickly as he arrived, leaving Sakura slightly gobsmacked.

"Okie-Dokie then." Sakura giggled as she tied the headband on her head like a hairband.

"What the hell are you doing shouting outside our compound?!" A tall Uchiha questioned, skulking up to Sakura in attempts to threaten her. This sparked an Idea in her mind so she spontaneously decided to go with it.

"Why, does it bother you?" Sakura sassed as she crossed her arms.

"Yes, it does. This is our turf."

"This is our turf." Sakura mimicked immaturely, instantly getting a reaction from the Uchiha.

He jumped forward to strike Sakura, however she found herself restrained by someone. The guy who was about to hit Sakura immediately stopped in his tracks and scowled at the man restraining Sakura.

"Don't even think about it." A familiar voice spoke. Sakura sighed before staring the other Uchiha in the eyes. "You can return to your former duties."

"He started it." Sakura said as the man let go of her arm.

"You need to come with me to the police station to give a statement on last night's events." Itachi said as he started walking ahead of Sakura. "Follow me."

Sakura wordlessly followed him before tilting her head slightly.

 _'If Itachi's anything like Sasuke, the way he's walking suggests that he's in a bad mood_ ' Sakura thought inwardly as she smiled. ' _Good_ '

* * *

 _A.N: Thank you for reading and apologies for any errors!_


	6. Unaware

Sakura didn't like the dirty looks she was receiving from the Uchiha that passed her, but she didn't mind it. She would have never had the opportunity to get to know any of the Uchiha in her past timeline.

"What will be done about the manager of that Restaurant?" Sakura asked to entertain herself.

"Nothing." Itachi responded simply as he started to walk faster.

"Nothing? But he served me a glass of his own urine…He cut me!" Sakura protested as she struggled to keep up with Itachi's pace.

"I'm only speaking on the police's behalf. There is no proof for either of those allegations."

"There were witnesses!" Sakura said, confused at the logic Itachi was throwing at her.

"Neither Kakashi nor I can comment on happenings as we are…" Itachi started before holding his tongue. He had already found out that Sakura was stupid enough not to recognise him in his ANBU gear and she obviously had a bone to pick with him as she openly admitted that she is suspicious of him. She had also lied to him about fighting him once.

"Shin and Sai aren't here too." Itachi said. Sakura noted his change in footing and smiled further.

' _He's definitely annoyed about something…Maybe that's the kind of natural effect I have on the Uchiha._ ' Sakura thought.

"The best thing to say is that you started a fight with him because he kept staring at you and you'll be let off with a charge." Itachi interrupted Sakura's thoughts.

"Like hell will I say that!" Sakura protested, causing Itachi to flinch.

"If you don't, the Hokage will be informed of the trouble you're causing the already disgruntled Uchiha." Itachi attempted, successfully. Sakura let out a long sigh before crossing her arms.

"Fine. Stupid Uchiha." Sakura muttered quietly as they entered the police station. Sakura was surprised at how futuristic it looked. But she didn't have much time to take in the surroundings as she had to find out where the case files would be located. "Will I be interviewed by the chief officer?"

"No, nothing that complicated." Itachi said as he walked up to the reception desk and got a sheet of paper and a pen. "You're only required to form a written statement." He finished, shifting the sheet and pen to Sakura.

Sakura needed to act now if she wanted to get the case file for Kizashi's daughter.

"Where will this statement go once I write it? With the other case files?" Sakura attempted casually as she started to scribble down her statement down on the sheet.

"No." Itachi answered bluntly. Sakura held back the urge to glare at him.

"So, this won't go to the chief officers…office?"

"No."

' _It's like he's purposely trying to make things difficult._ ' Sakura thought as she finished her statement.

"I don't see the use of writing a statement…" She hissed before handing Itachi her completed sheet before turning on her heels to leave the station. Itachi handed the receptionist the completed sheet before he went to follow Sakura, but to his surprise, he lost sight of her.

Sakura had used this opportunity to slip away from Itachi and quickly scope the building. She was fortunate enough that the building was practically empty due to how early it was. However, she had to work fast as she wasn't sure who would pop up and she didn't want to be caught breaking into an office…especially because it would be an office in the Uchiha Compound.

"…I'm sorry miss." A deep hum emerged from a heavy wooden door Sakura was standing in front of. "I wish I could help you more. I really do…" Sakura squinted her eyes at the door as if to burn holes in them. She couldn't stand patronising tones. She quickly cloned herself and henged her clone into Itachi and her real body concealed herself well on the ceiling in preparation to quickly clear out the office.

 _Knock knock_

Sakura's clone knocked on the door authoritively as she straightened her stance.

"I will update you if we find any further evidence." The voice rushed on the phone before he opened the door to look down at Itachi with confusion littering his facial features. "Itachi?" he spoke as he invited him into the office. Sakura stealthily entered the room just as the officer turned his back and hid expertly behind a wide statue.

Her heart raced so fast she was surprised no one could hear it thumping against her chest.

"I can only assume that you're here to update me on the Hokage's plans for our clan." He spoke monotonously as he took a seat. "Sit Itachi."

Sakura's clone sat down and stared awkwardly at the officer, she looked at the nametag on the desk before looking back up to the officer.

"I don't have anything new to report, Fugaku, I just wanted to talk about last nights' event at that restaurant."

"You don't have to be so formal here, Itachi, you're my son. And I thought we agreed to never mention last night's events again. Case is closed." He stated harshly before leaning back on his chair and crossing his arms.

Sakura took this time to search the bookshelf full of case files for the one she was looking for with her eyes.

"I apologise for the intrusion then." Sakura's clone said as she stood up.

"We'll walk down to the conference room together. We're looking into a murder case today and I'd like your help." Fugaku stated as he stood up from the desk.

"Of course," Sakura's clone said as they both headed to the door. Whilst Fugaku's back was turned, Sakura darted over to the case file on Kizashi's daughter that she had spotted earlier and quickly stuffed it in her pouch.

 _Knock knock_

Firm bangs were heard from behind the wooden door, making Sakura feel uneasy. She lifted her hood above her head in preparation for the worst.

"Who is it this time?" Fugaku grumbled before opening the door partially. "Itachi?"

In that instance Sakura had swiftly and quietly opened the window and darted out of the compound after expelling her clone.

"Shit…" She murmured as she raced to the hokage's office. "I need to look busy." She said to herself as she rushed up to his office before pulling her hood down and knocking on the door.

"Enter." A reluctant voice spoke. Sakura took no time to enter the room and face the hokage.

"I forgot to mention that I need an apartment." Sakura blurted suddenly. Sarutobi stood from his desk and crossed his arms.

"We have no available space in the village. However, it just so happens that one of our shinobi was just speaking to me about the proposition of renting a room out." He stated as he motioned his eyes over to the man standing in the corner of the room.

Sakura slowly turned to face a shinobi she was unfortunately familiar with.

"I don't feel safe in the same room as an adult man." Sakura instantly protested as she looked at Orochimaru straight in his eyes, ignoring Tsunade standing by his side.

"He's fine Sakura. Stop overeating." Tsunade said, giving Sakura a stern expression. "We're out on a mission for today so it would be a great opportunity for you to set your room up in peace." She continued.

Sakura frowned slightly before glaring at Orochimaru.

"Fine, I'll take it. How much is rent?" Sakura questioned sourly.

"We can discuss that when I return from my mission. I'll let you tell her where my house is situated, Sarutobi." Orochimaru said before placing a hand on Tsunade's shoulder. "Let's go."

Tsunade's cheeks turned pink as she followed Orochimaru out of the office.

Sakura clocked onto Tsunade's feelings for Orochimaru at that point and made a note to herself that she would have to speak to her master later…as Sakura's personal mission was to eliminate Orochimaru…but that would be difficult for her is Tsunade held feelings for him.

"Orochimaru lives in the purple apartment next to the Uchiha compound. You can't miss it…Oh, and Sakura." Sarutobi said as he walked around the desk. "You'll need to take a few missions before the Chunin exams." He stated before uncrossing his arms and reaching for a big pile of paperwork on his desk. "Tsunade helped me pick these out for you and challenged you to finish them all in three days." He said before handing Sakura over the paper pile. "And here are the keys to Orochimaru's house." He finished before opening the door for Sakura. "If you have any problems, please come back to me."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Sakura bowed her head respectfully before leaving the tower. "Ahh..." Sakura sighed to herself as she approached the Uchiha compound, taking a look at the ninja academy in the process. Her heart dropped as she saw Naruto and Sasuke battling out whatever issues they had with each other. "Sasuke…" She sighed softly.

"Are you some sort of child sexual predator in the making?" A manly voice stated, catching Sakura off guard.

"Jeesh! No! I was just…Why are you here anyway?" Sakura questioned the familiar ANBU cladded man with the weasel mask as she continued walking to her destination.

"I'm on my way to my partners house." He stated informatively. "I see you've passed your Genin test, congratulations." He stated as he walked by Sakura's side.

"Thanks…I guess." Sakura murmured before side glancing at the Uchiha compounds entrance.

"The Uchiha's make you feel nervous too?" he questioned, earning an eyeroll from Sakura.

"You don't have to micro-analyse every action I do." Sakura laughed before reaching a purple house and standing in front of the door.

"I was just curious…I thought we got off to a better start last night…" He said, sadness intertwined in his tone. Sakura's heart felt heavy as she considered the feelings of the mystery man behind her.

"Do you have time for a cup of tea and a chat before your duties?" Sakura gave into her emotional side as she looked over her shoulder.

"Of course." He said in a more upbeat tone, reassuring Sakura that she made the right choice. Sakura quickly opened the door before letting Itachi in.

"This is my first time entering this house…If you find anything odd…it's not mine." Sakura said before quickly placing the paperwork on the empty desk near the entrance to the house.

"Who does this house belong to?" He questioned as he sat on the pristine cream coloured sofa.

"Orochimaru's…I didn't want to live here at first but this is my only option…otherwise I'd be out on the streets." Sakura said openly as she tried to navigate her way about the kitchen.

"Orochimaru? Aren't you scared of him?" Itachi questioned, making sure that he took in every action Sakura made to get a better profile of who she is.

"I guess I'll learn not to be." Sakura stated as she found the right equipment to make a simple peppermint tea.

"So…I saw you with Itachi this morning." He said as Sakura handed him the cup of tea. Sakura sighed before sitting next to him on the sofa.

"I guess you were spying on me again…" Sakura started before blowing cool air at her tea. "Yes, what of it?" Sakura answered eventually.

"Are you lying to me about fighting him? You didn't seem to complain or anything of the sort when I saw him escort you somewhere. I don't mean to be rude…but you don't seem to be stronger than me." Itachi said openly, not even getting a reaction from Sakura like he'd hoped.

"I don't need to justify myself to you just yet." Sakura said before sipping the tea from the cup. "Why are you so into talking about…Itachi?" Sakura said slowly as she took in the ANBU entirely, squinting her eyes suspiciously.

"I uh…" Itachi stuttered as he placed his cup on the table. Sakura wasted no time in placing her cup down on the table and lunging towards Itachi, pinning him down with her knees as he moved around underneath her. Sakura reached for his mask but found herself struggling as Itachi lifted his legs and forced them down on Sakura's chest harshly before completely flipping the situation on its' head.

"Ugh." Sakura groaned breathlessly as Itachi grabbed her legs and pushed them to the side before pinning Sakura down.

"I can't believe it took you that long to realise who I was." Itachi said before removing his mask. "I'd like to ask you again. When exactly did you fight me? I don't appreciate lies being told." He pressed.

Sakura immaturely looked away and remained silent. Itachi scowled at her before holding her chin firmly and forced her to face him, Sharingan spinning wildly in his eyes.

"And how the hell can you withstand the effects of the Sharingan?" He said in a lower, more threatening tone. Sakura sweat dropped as she stiffened underneath his grasp.

' _Ugh, he's so scary_ ' Sakura admitted to herself as she felt vulnerable.

"Looks like you two are having a bit too much fun." A voice interrupted the two. Itachi looked over to his right while keeping a firm grip on Sakura.

"Kakashi, this Kunoichi is hiding something." Itachi started as Sakura struggled to turn her head to face Kakashi. "She broke into my father's office this morning."

"Now, now! There's no proof of that is there?!" Sakura blabbered in a panic. Itachi swiftly leaned closer to Sakura as he reached into her pouch. Sakura struggled again, trying to break free from Itachi's grasp but her attempts were futile. Itachi handed Kakashi over the case file.

"Well this is interesting." Kakashi said before flicking through the file. "It seems all that crazy talk may not be as crazy as I thought."

"What crazy talk? I'm just helping out some civilians because the police couldn't be bothered to consider it." Sakura defended, continuing her attempts of getting free.

Itachi grew slightly annoyed as he had to keep readjusting his grip to keep Sakura in place.

"Stop struggling." He muttered.

"I don't know, Sakura, I think you should tell us the truth of who you really are." Kakashi said as he placed the case file on the table before casually sitting on the sofa next to Itachi. Sakura looked over at him and the heat in her face heightened.

Sakura couldn't help a straight expression that washed across her face. She had tried so hard to keep her origin to herself that she didn't prepare for something like this happening. The expression Kakashi wore reminded Sakura of the intimate moments they shared in her old timeline so she timidly looked away from him.

Itachi had quietly motioned to Kakashi to use his Sharingan on her, as he could sense Sakura's mysterious attachment to Kakashi.

"Sakura?" Kakashi said in a softer tone, snapping her attention back to him.

Unguarded and unprepared, Sakura fell into Kakashi's Genjutsu.

* * *

 _A.N: Thank you for reading! I appreciate you all for reading through a somewhat confusing fanfiction so far!_


	7. An Inevitable Demise

Sakura found herself in a familiar, weaker version of Kakashi's Genjutsu. She internally cussed herself for letting her guard down around Kakashi, knowing that it would be tough for her to expel the Genjutsu while Kakashi was in control…especially in her younger body.

She waited expectantly for some sort of torturous pain, but it never came. She was standing in a vast open dark space. No Kakashi, no weapons, no pain.

"Hello?" Sakura called out gingerly as she tried over and over to expel the Genjutsu with different levels of Chakra in attempts of finding the right frequency.

Slowly but surely, a groaning sound was emerging from the distance, a sound Sakura recognised as Kakashi in pain.

"Kakashi Sensei?" Sakura called out unwillingly. Her eyes widened as she tried to speak over her mistake but she quickly found that she had no control over her mouth and voice whatsoever.

"Sakura?" Kakashi called. Sakura looked around again but saw nothing but perpetual darkness.

"Kakashi Sensei?" Sakura repeated while her legs took her on a journey forwards without her consent.

Sakura's heart raced as she frantically tried to dispel the Genjutsu.

"Ssss…" Sakura heard a quiet, chilling sound gradually get louder, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand.

"Sakura." In that moment, pressure like no other started to build up in Sakura's head, getting severely intense after a few mere seconds. She could tell that Kakashi was invading her memories as she'd experienced this kind of pain before during her ANBU training with him. She had to get him out of there and she had to do it swiftly.

"Argh!" Sakura screamed out loud as she finally expelled the Genjutsu. She found herself drenched in cold sweat and fighting for breath as Itachi was still restraining her.

"What did you find out, Kakashi?" Itachi immediately asked. Sakura focused on calming herself down before she started hyperventilating.

"Whoa…" Was all Kakashi said as he sat back in the chair. "Ah…" He continued.

"What is it?" Itachi repeated, anxious to hear what Kakashi saw.

"It's…It's hard to believe what I saw…I can't say for certain." Kakashi carefully chose his words as he eyes Sakura's body.

"Is she a spy?" Itachi questioned, starting to get impatient.

"She's…she is who she says she is." He replied slowly, earning himself direct eye contact from Sakura. "She's a Haruno."

"What significance does that hold…exactly?" Itachi questioned as he looked from Kakashi to Sakura.

"The Haruno's were the first kunoichi to hold chakra." Kakashi started. Sakura refrained from raising an eyebrow as she didn't know what kind of History this timeline held. "They were the clan that discovered medical jutsu and passed their information down…didn't you learn about them in the academy?" Kakashi questioned.

"No. The Academy only taught the very basics." Itachi retorted half-defensively.

"But…She's," Kakashi continued, shaking his head as if to filter out the craziness he'd witnessed. "She hasn't got a past."

Sakura couldn't help the dumbfounded expression on her face as she narrowed her eyes at Kakashi.

"Literally there is nothing in her head that's older than two days old…like she has no memory of her childhood…or someone erased her memories..." Kakashi continued.

Hearing that made Sakura smirk triumphantly. That meant that Kakashi wasn't skilled enough to properly invade her memories to filter out false and real thoughts.

"She thinks of me as her master." Kakashi said abruptly, with a slight suggestive chuckle, making Sakura blush in a matter of seconds.

"Oh yeah?" Itachi smirked as he glanced from Kakashi to Sakura.

"Th-that's-!" Sakura started to protest.

"Anyway," Itachi interrupted, unaware of how much weight he'd been leaning on Sakura's body. "So, she's from the Haruno clan. That explains why she's good with medical jutsu. But how is it possible that she can withstand my Sharingan…but not yours?"

Sakura awkwardly looked away from Kakashi as she started to struggle against Itachi's grip. This time, however, Itachi removed himself from Sakura while placing a hand on the middle of her chest, as if to tell her not to move.

"I don't know." Kakashi stated honestly, both of their eyes landing on the pinkette in front of them.

"Maybe you can explain?" Itachi asked curiously, wanting to find out more about the lady he was holding captive temporarily.

"I don't know." Sakura mimicked Kakashi in a child-like manner, earning herself a glare from Itachi. "Look. I don't think that it's safe for you guys to be picking on this Genin…" Sakura continued.

Itachi pressed his hand firmly down on her chest, as if to remind Sakura of her position.

"We should leave it for now, Itachi. The Hokage needed us in his office ten minutes ago," Kakashi suggested as he stood up. "She doesn't seem to hold any negative intentions, so we can leave knowing that she's not got an ill will for this village."

Itachi halted his breathing for a second before taking one last look at Sakura.

"In the end, you weren't even worth our time." Itachi muttered harshly before shortly pressing down on Sakura's chest before removing his hand and placing his mask back on before walking out of the house with Kakashi by his side.

Sakura sighed in relief as she thanked Kakashi in her timeline for the special Sharingan training. She lifted her body up from the sofa before reaching out to the case file on the table. While flicking through the file, she realised that the forms that were in there had been half completed.

Tutting at the unprofessional notes, she reached the end of the file. But the last page caught her attention the most.

"Case closed due to…due to what? The original reason has been redacted…" Sakura muttered as she moved her finger across the black box covering what text should have been there as if to rub it out.

Sakura chose to dismiss the file as it held no evidence or leads to anything relating to Kizashi's daughter's kidnapping.

For now, she had to play by the rules the Hokage set so that she could gain a bit more freedom when she got into the ANBU taskforce.

Placing the case file back on the table, she walked to the pile of ranked missions she was assigned before sorting them out in order of distance, from the furthest location to the closest.

After reading through all the categories and information from the sheets, she found out the furthest she would have to travel is the fire border, which wasn't far at all.

"This won't take three days," Sakura smirked before tidily stowing away the mission cards.

She decided to head into town to collect the necessary items for the delivery missions before hurrying to exit the village.

The further she got from the village, the more tainted thoughts had entered her mind. She shook off any notion of abandoning her village and focused on ways to eliminate Orochimaru instead.

Sakura travelled continuously at a pushing speed until the sun started to set. Fortunately reaching a small town as the night rolled in, she decided to check in at a hotel for the night.

The town she'd entered was one she was unfortunately familiar with. She couldn't quite remember the name, but she knew that in her previous timeline, it was a town that Orochimaru had taken over.

She entered the hotel confidently to find herself feeling extremely tense the second she saw people looking at her.

The room was empty excluding the three thug looking men, at the receptionists desk, towering over a small lady.

"I think you should leave, kid." One of the men warned. Curiosity got the better of Sakura as she started walking towards the men.

"I need a room for the night so I'm not leaving." Sakura retorted, preparing herself for an imminent brawl.

"You don't belong here, now beat it before I do something I won't regret." Another man spoke up, growling aggressively at Sakura, causing her to scoff audibly.

"I think it's you that doesn't belong here. To me, it looks like you're harassing staff members…" Sakura noted, analysing the situation as she spoke.

She noticed that the thugs were nothing above a civilian level of strength, so her high hopes of an entertaining fight were quickly diminished.

"Don't be a smartass." The first thug spat as he stormed over to Sakura in hopes of intimidating her. He was shocked that she stood her ground so he decided to raise his hand to hit her instead.

However, as soon as his fist was due to hit Sakura's face, the girl had dodged his punch effortlessly and it looked as if he was deliberately trying to miss her face.

He scowled at her before using his other fist to punch her. But this time, he felt an excruciating pain emit from his stomach as Sakura had winded him with a strong punch.

He double over and struggled for breath as one of the other men rushed to his side.

"Stop interfering!" he stated before aiming a kick to Sakura's face. Sakura ducked with plenty of time to spare before landing a kick of her own to his supporting knee, causing it to crack horrifically before he fell harshly on the ground.

Sensing no further threat, Sakura walked up to the reception desk before eyeing up the third thug.

He didn't waste any time to walk away from her to help his friend up before they all mumbled amongst each other while leaving the hotel, cursing the small girl for besting them.

"Thank you." The receptionist sighed in relief.

"If you don't mind me asking, what were those guys after? Money? Sex?" Sakura asked, surprising the woman with her mature and polite way of speaking.

"Neither…They wanted something else." She said gloomily as she held a closed fist to her chest.

Sakura waited patiently for her to continue, but she never did. Deciding that it was probably something to do with family business or something similarly mundane, Sakura booked herself a room for the night.

Sakura decided to start storing her chakra into a seal on her forehead…but this time around, she wanted to spend more than an hour a night. She could remember just how little chakra she'd stored the last time she had to release the seal…she almost died.

An hour passed quickly and Sakura felt her chakra levels were low, but she pushed through another hour, successfully storing the chakra in the very faint seal she'd created.

Feeling pleased with her handiwork, she turned out the lights and quickly fell asleep with happy thoughts, still dressed in her daytime outfit.

* * *

Sakura suddenly awoke to her body stiffening as something in the hotel created a loud bang. She hesitantly got up before rubbing her eyes and darting down the hall. She noted that it must have been early hours in the morning as there was barely any light outside.

Something in her gut was telling her that something was really wrong. A dark aura had invaded the entire hotel, along with a scent that Sakura recognised as a modified, more potent, version of chloroform.

Sakura held her breath as she rushed down the stairs. She opened the door to reception and bumped into a shinobi dressed in purple.

She instinctively forced him out of the way with a sucker punch before looking around the room to judge what was happening.

There was one more dark figure near the receptionists desk, rummaging around for something.

"This ones awake!" the man who was pushed to the ground shouted breathlessly, gaining the attention of his companion.

Sakura tried to enhance her vision but the attempt was futile as the man, who was previously at the receptionists desk, sped towards her, forcing her to focus on something else.

Preparing herself for battle, Sakura focused a certain amount of chakra inside her nostrils, as a make-shift filter for the knock out gas.

' _As long as I keep my mouth closed, the Chloroform shouldn't affect me._ ' Sakura thought inwardly.

She confidently dodged the string of fast attacks the man aimed at her, noticing that the strikes would have been somewhat fatal if they had made contact.

Sakura tried to get a good look at her attacker but she couldn't make any define judgements on who the man was, as he was fitted with a gas-mask which hid his facial features. The only thing that made him unique was the tight fitting black outfit he was wearing.

Sakura found an opening when the man looked like he was about to kick her in the side. She instinctively infused her hand with chakra as she forced her fist in the direction of her attackers collarbone. However, the attack never landed.

Instead she found herself falling to the ground as he'd swept her down with his heavy low kick.

Sakura winced as she bumped her head with a loud thud on the wooden flooring. Inhaling sharply, Sakura noted that she must've got a splinter embedded in her forehead before rolling out of the way from an impending stomp. She quickly sprung herself up before infusing her fists with chakra and aiming a punch for his chest again, this time being more mindful of dirty moves.

The man in front of her dodged the attack effortlessly and grabbed her right wrist in attempts to restrain her.

Sakura simply used her leg to deal a heavy blow to her attackers ribs. He grunted in pain as Sakura managed to land another kick before he used his other hand to grab her ankle and throw her harshly across the room.

She didn't have enough time to correct her position as she hurtled towards a plate display. Bracing herself for the pain that would ensue, small shards of glass entered her skin as her body shattered the display.

"Mmm!" Sakura cried, using expert discipline to keep her mouth shut as her whole body erupted in agonising pain.

Within the next second, her attacker was in front of her again, only this time he was able to get a clean hit on her knees. Knocking her to the floor yet again, Sakura wanted to yell out in pain as the sharp glass in her back was being pushed in deeper.

"You should've just fallen asleep like a good girl." The mans voice was muffled as he pressed down on top of Sakura, grabbing a hold of her forearm and snapping it with ease. Sakura tried to push him off with her other hand but found that he'd reached for that one too, mercilessly dislocating her shoulder in the process.

"It's not here...she's obviously ran away with our product." the other man said, reminding Sakura that there was more than one person in the room.

The man holding Sakura down unsheathed a short sword before standing up, bringing Sakura with him by the scruff of her collar.

"Useless..." he muttered before he forced Sakura back into the broken plate display. He swiftly lifted her dislocated arm and stabbed it into the wall behind her. Using his strength to push the sword deeper into place, he smirked as he inflicted deliberate pain on his victim. Sakura reacted by kicking the man square in the jaw, momentarily shocking him with her flexibility as the mask he was wearing just about endured the hit, displaying only a small crack. "You're staying here." He growled as he stomped on one of her shins, breaking her bone in two in hopes she would stop attacking him as there was no form of support for her.

But to his surprise, Sakura landed a stronger kick to his stomach, agonisingly using her severely broken leg to hold her body up as she used her other leg to wind him. Before he could lash out at the girl in front of him, his companion pulled him back and out of Sakura's attacking range.

"We return to base and rethink our plan. Burn this place down." He informed, not even giving Sakura a second glance.

"What about the girl? She might escape and relay information." The attacker questioned in between breaths, causing his companion to stop in his tracks to face Sakura.

Sakura felt a familiar feeling invade her gut. even though she couldn't see past his gas-mask, the man's purple attire reminded her of someone dangerous.

"I'll render her immobile." He stated as he infused his hands with Chakra. Sakura waited for the perfect opportunity to attack as the man in purple approached her.

Just as his hand was reaching for Sakura's face, she aimed a kick at the man as a distraction. It worked as he grabbed her leg, not expecting the punch that followed from Sakura's broken left arm.

The man in front of Sakura barely dodged Sakura's attack before numbing her arm with chakra.

' _A medic ninja?_ ' Sakura concluded unsurely.

"You don't go down without a fight, such a shame." He chuckled darkly before placing his hand on the left side of Sakura's chest before exerting his chakra, effectively attempting to alter her heartbeat.

Sakura's eyes widened in panic as her body became limp.

The man dressed in purple smirked triumphantly before walking away from Sakura and grabbing some of the alcohol bottles behind the bar.

Sakura tried working on fixing her heartbeat as she refrained from opening her mouth to give into whimpering at the pain she was in.

Bottles were smashed all around the place before the men started to head out of the building. The man in the tight black outfit made a few signs before setting fire to the alcohol that was littered around the room.

The fire spread wide so fast that Sakura had to squint her eyes to get a better look at her attackers while adjusting her vision. But they were hidden behind flames too bright to look at.

"Come, we'll report back to Orochimaru." Sakura just about heard one of the man say over the roaring fire before exiting the building.

"Great..." Sakura exhaled as she could feel her chakra levels become dangerously low. She'd managed to fix her heartbeat but the numbness from the attack left her with no control of her limbs and there wasn't nearly enough chakra to restore feeling and fix bones in the seal she'd just created.

The blaze was starting to reach scorching temperatures causing Sakura to sweat uncomfortably while black smoke started to emit from the flames.

Sakura cussed herself for being so weak while also being arrogant in her skills as she decided that she'd better prepare for her impending death...in hopes she would die peacefully.

Tears rolled down from her eyes as the gravity of the impossible situation hit her hard. She simply couldn't accept the fact that she was about to die, only three days into her journey.

She opened her mouth to inhale the air without a second thought as the flames closed in on her and within seconds the modified chloroform took over her, welcoming her to a deep sleep.

* * *

 _A.N: Thank you for reading!_


	8. Lifeline

"I can sense a faint chakra signature in that building." Shisui's given partner for his mission spoke aloud as he pointed in the direction of a burning building half a mile away. Shisui considered the building momentarily before noticing two men running out of the hotel and into the darkness.

Shisui's partner was a tall, tanned male who was close to the Uchiha. He wore the standard Jonin attire and wore his headband proudly on his forehead, his shaggy brown hair framing the sides of his chiseled face and just touching his shoulders. He called himself 'Zumi' and fooled the Uchiha into thinking that was his real name...not fooling Shisui of his alias though, however, Shisui didn't sense any negative notion from his partner so he decided not to question his reasoning just yet. Not quite trusted by the Uchiha military Police force, but accepted as a solid ally of the Uchiha if they ever got in trouble outside the compound. He'd only been on a few missions with Shisui before, but he could tell that Zumi was a talented Shinobi who could be relied on.

"Has the signature faded?" Shisui questioned as he subtly prepared himself for anything.

"…No, but I think whoever's in there is unconscious…or freshly dead." He spoke quietly, giving Shisui the push he needed as he sprinted at top speed towards the burning building.

Within a matter of seconds, he'd reached the hotel and smashed through the blazing door, ignoring the blisters that formed on his right arm as a familiar chakra invaded his senses.

He frantically looked around, attempting to pinpoint the direction of the body. It took a bit of effort for him to look past the flames but his eyes eventually landed on someone's body, pinned callously above a broken display.

He darted through the flames and yanked the sword out the wall before securely holding the girl close to his chest. Shisui exited the building just in time as fire spread through the entirety of the structure within seconds of him exiting the entrance of the hotel.

He sighed in relief as he could sense the girl he was holding was very much alive, just unconscious from something of unnatural means.

"She's one of ours." Zumi stated as he reached Shisui's side, taping gently at Sakura's headband so that Shisui could see his observation.

Zumi wasted no time in using his advanced water hose technique to douse the flames, Shisui looked down and took in the unconscious girls appearance before frowning at his discovery.

"I know her…Let's set up camp for the night and wait for her to regain consciousness…she might have information that could help us in our mission." Shisui stated, directing his partner to a safe site away from the burned building.

During an hour of awkward silence, their camp was set and Shisui carefully placed Sakura's body onto his floor mat.

"I'm no medic ninja, but I'm sure she's got a dislocated shoulder…and her left leg looks like she's got too knees…" Zumi murmered.

Shisui looked up at his friend slowly and challenged him to elaborate.

"Her leg is bent in two places…two knees?" Zumi suggested as he took off his backpack to rummage for food. "We're one day in and we've already completed half of our mission." He reviewed as he pulled out raw meat from his bag. "All we have to do now is deliver the information to the sand." He said as if it was simply a week-long mission.

"It's not that simple…the Kazekage wouldn't be happy with the information we've gathered, it's not nearly enough to confirm his suspicions of Sasori's existence." Shisui responded sharply as he thought about popping Sakura's shoulder back into place, eventually he came to a consensus that he simply didn't want to risk damaging her permanently if he did it wrong.

"What a bother…" Zumi mumbled off as he impaled two raw pieces of chicken before placing a few planks of wood in the small fire pit he'd constructed. "If you could."

Shisui speedily set a fire to the pit without much effort before looking back down at Sakura.

Ever since he'd met her, something about her seemed a bit off. He wasn't so sure that he needed to intervene when he first saw her standing her ground confidently while a drunk man careered haphazardly towards her with impure intentions. She also withstood his Sharingan. Granted, he didn't use his stronger paralyzing technique, she still negated it as if she'd analysed the Sharingan intensely for the whole of her life.

"What's so interesting about her?" Zumi asked, picking up on Shisui's curiosity.

"She's alive after all that damage…" Shisui stated a passing thought out loud. "She's twelve…she shouldn't have been in that situation in the first place." He continued, sighing deeply as he crossed his legs.

"Twelve? What's she doing out of the village without a Jonin partner? She's not Chunin level at twelve I assume?" Zumi questioned Shisui, as if he was a psychic.

"I remember her talking about her Genin exam that would've taken place yesterday…She would only be at a Genin level at most." Shisui mused aloud.

He invited himself to take Sakura's waist band off to look into her pouch for any clues of what she was doing outside of the village.

He tilted his head to the side as he rummaged past a few generic items before pulling out a wad of paper.

"Mission cards." He stated eventually.

"Why would the Hokage send a lone Genin out on missions?" Zumi asked as he started to slowly rotate the chicken.

"She's a strong Kunoichi." Shisui admitted as he shuffled through the easy mission cards. "These missions aren't ones that would put her in danger either…I think it's a case of wrong place wrong time here…" Shisui stated as he put the mission cards back in Sakura's bag in the exact place he found them.

"How unfortunate…Do you need me to send a messenger bird for a medic?" Zumi asked as he'd took some flat plates out of his pack to place the chicken on.

"No," Shisui started as he inspected Sakura's mouth and nose. "The biggest risk would've been smoke inhalation but I can't see any signs of laboured breathing now."

Zumi handed over one of the plates of chicken to Shisui, who thanked him before using his fingers to eat his small meal.

A few more hours of small talk passed before Zumi decided to sleep while Shisui remained awake and alert for his turn in watching the camp.

Sakura started mumbling weakly in her sleep, tempting Shisui to smile as her incoherent words sounded like a bad attempt of imitating a ghost.

He'd been keeping an eye on her for the whole duration she was there and he'd noticed that the huge splinter that embedded in her forehead had been pushed out by her own recovering body and the mark that it left had disappeared. The stab wound in her hand had also vanished too, leaving nothing but a small silver line of a scar in its' place, piquing Shisui's interest in the Kunoichi lying in front of him.

He leaned closer to her forehead in attempts of finding a small scar from the huge splinter, but there was none at all. His eyes then ventured down to her closed eyelids. Upon closer inspection, Shisui saw faint tear tracks that softly stained her face.

"Sasuke." Sakura hummed softly, catching Shisui completely off guard.

"Sasuke?" Shisui repeated while squinting his eyes and leaning back into place. He rubbed his head in confusion as he tried to link the two together in a rational way. He quickly gave up as he noticed that the thin silver scar on the palm of her left hand started to disappear.

Shisui then started to link Sakura's healing abilities to traits of a Clan he'd heard about when he was younger from his grandmother. However, he'd shaken off the thought as a crazy coincidence.

"The Haruno clan are long gone..." Shisui muttered to himself solemnly, failing to notice Sakura shuffling around.

"Shisui?" Sakura's sudden croaky acknowledgement interrupted Shisui's trail of thought.

Sakura awoke suddenly, her eyes took a few moments to adjust to the dimly lit camp she found herself in. Slightly confused but more relieved that she was alive and breathing.

He smiled slightly at her before opening his mouth to respond. "Urghhh…Fuck." Sakura hissed distressingly through gritted teeth as she stared down at her body.

"Yeah…you're pretty hurt." Shisui stated obviously, trying to be informative. He motioned towards her dislocated shoulder with his eyes as Sakura looked at him. "Want me to…?" He suggested, hoping Sakura would catch on to what he was suggesting.

"Please." Sakura answered as she closed her eyes tightly in preparation. Shisui expertly popped her shoulder back in the socket and the sound that came from her mouth sounded something similar to a cat trying to growl. "Thanks." She breathed as she gingerly moved her left arm around.

"What happened?" Shisui wasted no time to grill into Sakura. She looked at him briefly before she moved her left hand over her broken arm.

"I was actually prepared to die…" Sakura said in disbelief, using the stored chakra in her seal to aid her healing process as she started to exert her chakra.

"What happened?" Shisui repeated in a softer tone. Sakura winced as her bones started to fix together quickly but painfully, a method she'd discovered while training with Tsunade. A method that caused the injury to heal faster but with the consequence of a tremendous amount of pain.

"I-I don't know. I booked a room for the night and when I woke up-" Sakura started before stopping herself from grunting as she moved down to her horrifically broken leg. "They'd gassed the hotel with chloroform or something…They were looking for a product…I don't know what it was they were looking for." Sakura continued, trying to put the pieces together herself. "I tried to fight them but they bested me…I was too arrogant." Sakura admitted, shame invading her body just as intensely as the pain that emanated from her broken leg. "Argh!" Sakura growled as quietly as she could before releasing a large sigh of pent up tension as she was now left with an extremely sore body rather than a non-functioning broken one.

"Who are 'they'?" Shisui questioned, watching Sakura's every movement.

"I don't know…they had gas-masks on so I couldn't see who they were." Sakura said before something in her mind clicked. "-But!" Sakura started before shakily pulling herself up into a sitting position, making Shisui jump at her sudden energy boost. "But, they spoke of Orochimaru." Sakura recalled, smiling from ear to ear at her memory. Choosing to keep exactly what they said to herself as she didn't want to pull the kind Uchiha into business that didn't concern him.

"Did they say where they were going?" Shisui questioned, trying to gauge her face for any hints of dishonesties.

"No…I'm sorry." Sakura sighed in disappointment. "Thank you for saving me." Sakura finally thanked her saviour as she looked at him with genuine eyes, making Shisui's heart warm at her gratefulness.

"You're very welcome, Sakura. I'm glad you're okay…I just have one more question for you, if you don't mind." Shisui asked cautiously, taking Sakura's long silence as a 'no'.

"Are you from the Haruno clan?" He continued, noting Sakura's shocked expression blink almost too fast for even Shisui to notice.

"U-Uh," Sakura started as she played awkwardly with her hair as she looked away from Shisui. "Y-yes…Yes I am." She admitted. Knowing that they existed in this timeline Sakura knew that keeping her last name to herself was no longer necessary, but she was unsure on what kind of weight it carried in this timeline.

"I did wonder why you excelled with medical jutsu's, even in your sleep..." Shisui said in awe as he took in her appearance. "Do all Haruno's have pink hair and green eyes? I've only ever read up about them…I've never seen one in person until now." Shisui rambled on, causing Sakura to frown as she recalled what the Hokage said.

"I don't know…my parents died before I could remember their faces…and I've been told that there aren't any Haruno's left." Sakura said with tears in her eyes as she thought about Kizashi and Mebuki back at the clothes shop.

"Sorry…I should've known." Shisui apologised. Sakura smiled reassuringly before holding her hand up and wiping her tears away.

"It's okay," Sakura started before quickly giving herself a quick status check. Confirming that she was able enough for basic combat and walking she nodded confidently to nothing in particular. "Thank you for the hospitality, but I need to get on with my missions." Sakura stated as she picked up her waistband and attached it back in place.

"Your chakra levels are low…I suggest you use this time to recover, even if it is for a few hours. It's unwise to head out so soon after such an event." Shisui informed, clearly concerned for Sakura's wellbeing.

"I'm a Haruno." Sakura tried, hiding the pain that throbbed in her leg as she shifted her weight to a kneeling position.

"You're a human." Shisui countered. "I'll be watching over the camp for two more hours, at least let your mind rest."

Sakura sat back in place as she looked at Shisui briefly before smirking.

"Alright," Sakura teased as she layed flat on Shisui's bed. "If it comforts you that much to see me at my best." Sakura sighed as she willingly closed her eyes, convinced that she would be completely safe while Shisui was around.

"Well, I'm not willing to let a child in need sleep rough." Shisui quoted playfully as he watched Sakura slowly fall asleep, her face gradually losing tension. He smiled to himself as Sakura started to breathe deeply, indicating that she was asleep.

* * *

 _A.N: Thank you for reading! I will be double checking this chapter for mistakes later on so thank you for your patience!_


	9. The Truth

Sakura felt a soft prodding at her cheek. Choosing to ignore it, she rolled onto her side in attempts to rid of the annoyance.

Zumi frowned at Shisui as he tried prodding her awake again. Shisui noted that there were small bits of glass protruding out of Sakura's back.

"…Gimme like…2," Sakura mumbled as she reached out for Zumi's hand before pinning it to the ground.

"Shisui…Get this girl up, we've got to move." Zumi sighed in irritation while prying his hand away from Sakura's tight grip.

Shisui offered him a slight smirk before he rubbed his fingers against his thumb in preparation. Without any further delay, Shisui spotted all of the glass shards and removed all of the pieces within a second, causing Sakura to sharply inhale at the pain as she opened her eyes wide.

"Ow!" She complained as she shot up from her side to glare at Shisui. Sakura almost opened her mouth to lecture him until her eyes ventured to the small pile of blood stained glass that sat precariously on the palm of Shisui's hand. "Ow…" Sakura repeated in a quieter tone before rubbing her eyes.

"Are you okay to carry on in your missions?" Zumi asked impatiently as he packed up the tent around Sakura's sitting self.

"Yes, I'll be fine." Sakura responded, not too bothered about the Shinobi accompanying Shisui. "Thank you again, Shisui. I owe you one." Sakura said in a lighter tone before she stood up at the same time as Shisui, sharing a long, awkward gaze.

"You do." Shisui admitted as he walked by his partners side. "I'll catch you later," He said before he and Zumi darted out of sight within seconds.

Sakura thanked her training for her speedy recovery as her body felt as good as new. She let out a long sigh as she recalled the previous day's events.

She'd caught herself up in Kakashi's Genjutsu…and they didn't seem too bothered about her after he found out a few things about her. But they did seem to talk about the Haruno as if they were some sort of huge deal.

Shaking off the thought, Sakura started heading off in the direction of her furthest mission as her brain raced with 'what if's. What if Itachi had told Fugaku that it was Sakura who had trespassed in on his office disguised as Itachi? What if Kakashi asked the Hokage about her? What will Sarutobi do to Sakura when he finds out she's been causing trouble at the Uchiha compound?

Sakura forced herself to calm down in fear that she'd work herself up into a nervous fit as she reached the first destination of her mission.

"Okay…I've wasted one day already, so I better get a move on." Sakura sang to herself as she underwent her missions.

The day passed relatively fast for Sakura as she completed mission after mission, while also having the time to help a few of the locals, to the small villages, out. Sakura had found it insulting that a lot of the contractors she encountered looked down at her and patronised her as they'd thought she was much too young to be working missions.

However, she just had to remind herself that she was in her younger body and to everyone else, they must have worried about the standard of quality the Kunoichi would work at. After they had their doubts, the contractors shortly found themselves very satisfied with Sakura's service, tipping her generously as they signed off the mission cards.

Sakura decided to work through the night as she only had a handful of missions left, determined to complete them all before sun rise.

Her final missions were simple harvesting missions, no more than a mile out from the leaf village, however, Sakura took a bit longer than she would have liked as the dark night concealed a lot of the visual identifying herbs she was requested to collect.

Sakura assumed that she was given the harvesting mission cards on the basis that Tsunade wanted her old greenhouse back, hoping to grow more herbs in her free time. But Sakura didn't mind doing Tsunade's dirty work, she knew that she was a lot more skilled when it came to harvesting the herbs entirely, making sure that the herb would be transferred safely from the wilds to a controlled environment...Tsunade was simply too rough when she extracted the plant.

"I wonder if I'm able to work part-time at the hospital…" Sakura mused out loud, happy with her work just as it started to get lighter in the sky. "And not a minute later!" Sakura cheered herself as she ticked off the last ingredient on the mission card.

Sakura made her way back to the village, which took half an hour, and decided that it was too early to visit the Hokage Tower, as he would be sleeping. So instead she made her way to the creepy purple house that she would have to call home for now.

Sakura hesitantly removed keys from her pouch and opened the door.

"…Orochimaru!" A strangely familiar voice yelped, causing Sakura to furrow her brows as she decided to cloak her chakra.

"What the hell…?" She mumbled as she slowly closed the front door, in hopes she'd get a better understanding on the situation at hand. The whole house was shrouded in darkness, except for a faint light emitting from a door near the kitchen.

"Ah!" The voice giggled playfully, letting Sakura know roughly what was going on.

"Ah come on," She groaned as she looked over at the clock at the entrance. "It's three O'clock in the morning…" She mumbled further before she stopped walking to think about what she should do.

On the one hand, she knew that she should do the respectful thing and leave, but on the other hand…there was no way of confirming what was actually going on unless she saw it for her own eyes. Orochimaru may have started his experimental phase with test subjects by now…So in fear of leaving a helpless victim in the hands of a dangerous man, she decided to go with the latter thought.

"Argh!" A more genuine scream sounded, causing Sakura's heart to stop.

"Damnit…" Sakura cussed as she decided that she'd just to take a peek. She walked towards the sound and found that the door was slightly ajar, only just starting to hear fast, rhythmic banging sounds.

"Tsunade…" A male voice growled deeply the exact moment Sakura looked into the room. Fortunately, neither of them seemed to notice Sakura's presence.

Unfortunately, Sakura had the displeasure of seeing her master in an intimate position…Lying stark naked and hidden from her view as Orochimaru's pale white and toned body was on top of Tsunade's. His pelvis grinding hard and fast against Tsunade's before his body stopped abruptly and shook faintly.

Tsunade and Orochimaru had climaxed and had both made a sound that would forever haunt Sakura's life before Orochimaru started to grunt breathlessly as he grinded his hips against hers again at a much faster pace, earning himself loud, high pitched moans from Tsunade at every thrust.

Sakura quickly pulled her head back and started to quietly make a beeline for the exit in attempts to clear her mind of the traumatic sexual encounter she'd invaded.

Sakura opened and closed the front door inaudibly before her cheeks started to heat up.

"Ughh!" Sakura cried immaturely as she walked away from the house. "Who does that at 3 AM!" She whispered irritably to herself, feeling guilty for seeing what she'd just seen.

"I'm so tired, I just want to sleep!" Sakura whimpered as she continued to burn the memory of Orochimaru's sexual grunts. "Uh…gross." Sakura repeated in a chant like way as her eyes started to water. She found herself in the training grounds, in front of a grave that listed the name of honourable shinobi.

Attempting to change her trail of thoughts, she searched through the names in case she recognised any of the names on the stone.

"Rin…wasn't that Kakashi's comrade?" Sakura whispered to herself before she continued looking through the names. "Obito…Obito!" Sakura straightened her stance as she quietly exclaimed his name. "I need to tell Kakashi..." Sakura said before pacing around on the spot. "But I can't…otherwise the Hokage will erase my memory…" Sakura recalled as she furrowed her eyebrows. "I need to tell someone…I need to tell him. I have to." Sakura continued, conflicted and confused at Sarutobi's odd request on not wanting to know anything about the future.

"…Yay! Itachi! Itachi!" Sakura heard an enthusiastic voice shouted from the entrance to the training field. Sakura didn't realise how fast she'd been breathing until that point, so she took a few deep breaths as she composed herself.

"Not too loud, Sasuke, you don't want to wake up the whole village, do you?" Itachi's voice emerged.

' _Ah…Well, the best time to see Itachi smile, is when he's with his younger brother._ ' Shisui's statement rang loud in Sakura's head before she even thought about leaving the training fields.

Sakura hesitantly decided that she wanted to see what Itachi was doing with his younger brother as Shisui's words floated tentatively in her mind.

She hid in the thickest tree as she looked down at the two approaching Uchiha, confident that neither of them were aware of her presence.

"Hehe!" Sasuke giggled, making Sakura's heart skip a beat. He sounded so uncharacteristically happy. Sakura smiled warmly as she looked down at him.

"What are you so happy for?" Itachi teased in a song like manner, making Sakura double take at his considerately chosen words and tone of voice.

"I love to learn from you, big brother!" Sasuke continued, as he grabbed tightly onto Itachi's arm, making Sakura clench her fist.

She had half the mind to jump down from the tree she was in to beat Itachi into dust for the massacre and pain he'd inflicted on Sasuke. But when she calmed herself down to analyse the whole situation, she linked his attitude to Sasuke now to the actions he'd made in the previous timeline. They simply didn't add up.

She remained still and quiet as she monitored the Uchiha's training session, noting that Itachi was genuinely smiling as Sasuke pulled limitless number of tantrums as he continuously missed punches on his older brother.

Two hours passed fast as Itachi rounded up the training session before leaving the field with Sasuke. When Sakura felt that Itachi was out of range, she uncloaked her chakra with a sigh of relief as some birds started to chirp.

She hopped down from the tree and leisurely made her way to the Hokage Tower, bumping into few civilians on her journey.

She dragged herself past the reception and knocked on the door. A few shuffles sounded from behind it before it was opened.

"Ah, Sakura." Sarutobi greeted cheerfully, making Sakura feel inferior in her lack of positive attitude. "Come in."

Sakura walked into his office and closed the door behind her before rummaging around her pack, displaying the completed mission cards and collected ingredients neatly on his clean desk.

"Mission complete…" She started before wiping her tired eyes a few times. "I'd like to request access to your private library." Sakura suddenly spoke out. Sarutobi eyed her cautiously before he created a simple sound barrier around the room.

"I'd like to know about the future." Sarutobi stated suddenly, causing Sakura to eye him warily. "Tsunade had convinced me that it's nothing to worry about, but upon further reflection it's in the villages best interest if I had access to that information." He explained before sitting down at his desk.

"Tsunade told you not to worry about it?" Sakura repeated in utter confusion as she looked down at Sarutobi. A long pause rang deafeningly across the room, heightening the pressure Sakura felt.

"Did I die?" Sarutobi broke the silence. "in your timeline." He clarified, earning a slow nod from the Kunoichi in front of him. "Please tell me everything you know. In exchange, I will allow you lifetime access to the Hokage's private library." He pleaded subtly.

Sakura didn't want to go against her Hokage, and she thought that it would only make sense if she warned him of the future that played out in her old timeline, so she took a deep breath before explaining everything that she could remember, not leaving out a single detail but reassuring the Hokage that things may have changed dramatically because a few things seemed to be different about the current timeline they were currently in. She spoke about her parents owning a clothing shop, but missing their daughter who shared the same name as hers, leaving Sakura with no hint of who her parents in this timeline could be if they existed. Sarutobi kept an unreadable expression as she informed him of the great ninja war and what had become of Orochimaru.

"So…it all started at the massacre?" Sarutobi concluded as he leaned back in his seat. Unhappy to hear about the path Orochimaru took in Sakura's previous timeline.

"I can't be certain. All I do know is that Danzo cannot be trusted…however I don't have any proof of his traitorous activities." Sakura explained, fidgeting around as exhaustion started to crawl into her system.

"I…I'll need to take some time to think. For now I will act as if I heard nothing, however, I appreciate your willingness to pass on the information." Sarutobi admitted after a heavy sigh. "What would you like to use the library for anyway, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I want to learn about my clan. Kakashi, Itachi and Shisui seemed to be in awe when they found out my last name…Well, not so much Itachi…" Sakura trailed off.

Jumping at Sarutobi's sudden gasp, Sakura raised her eyebrows at his reaction.

"Damnit. I should have told you earlier not to mention your clans name…to the Uchiha no less…" He muttered the last part to himself as he slowly stood up from his desk.

"They kinda found out for themselves! I didn't say a word." Sakura said defensively.

"How?" Sarutobi grilled.

"Well…Kakashi put me under a Genjutsu and found out from that before telling Itachi…and Shisui asked me about it after noting my natural fast self-recovery system." Sakura rushed, wanting to know what was so bad about her clan.

"You fell for his Genjutsu? I wonder why that is..." The Hokage mused quietly, aiming on dissecting that point later.

"It's unfortunate that you studied Medical jutsu in your timeline…I guess you wouldn't really notice the change with the advanced medical techniques Tsunade taught you...Do you feel like you're not putting much chakra out when you're healing people?" The Hokage questioned as he rubbed his face with his left hand.

Sakura thought for a while before admitting that it did feel a lot easier to heal herself, even if she did retain all the knowledge when she travelled through time, her Chakra levels at age 12 weren't anywhere nearly as high as this.

"Why? What's wrong with the Haruno clan? They weren't anything special in my timeline!" Sakura asked petulantly.

"The name goes back for centuries. They used to be praised for their selfless acts of heroism at the very start, taking civilians in and protecting them throughout the Shinobi war..." Sarutobi started before crossing his arms and pacing around. "They're known to possess an unimaginable amount of power and first discovered the way of medical jutsu, with the help of a giant slug named Katsuyu. However, they soon heard about the formidable Uchiha. The civilians at the time stopped praising the Haruno for their service and started to worship the Uchiha for their quick captures of villains in the surrounding towns and their Sharingan. Soon, the Haruno were completely forgotten. They remained envious and wanted the kekkei genkai for themselves to restore former glory. So they almost eradicated the entire Uchiha clan in trying." He continued. Sakura nodded in understanding before the fact actually hit her gut.

' _Crap…did Shisui know this fact when he saved my life?_ ' Sakura thought briefly.

"Understandably, you didn't kill any Uchiha personally, but your clan made a huge impact on their difficulties in fighting the Hyuuga." He continued, watching Sakura's expression. "Ruthless nights upon nights of murders went by and the Haruno used the eyes of the dead Uchiha to magnify their resistance to the Sharingan, but failing in their initial goal. Which was to take the kekkei genkai for themselves…So they stopped killing the Uchiha in hopes that they could review their tactics."

Sakura's stomach turned as the words hit her ears. She couldn't quite believe that her clan was big enough to try and take on the Uchiha…and to do something so horrific for such a petty reason. But hearing an explanation of the Sharingan resistance struck a nerve. Sakura was so certain that it was her training that rewarded her with such a high resistance to the Uchiha's Genjutsu…but if Sakura was being honest with herself, Kakashi wasn't a real Uchiha. She shivered as she thought about what kind of horrific Genjutsu Itachi would have pulled her into if it weren't for her clans' dirty history.

"After months' worth of slaughter, the Haruno eventually realised that they could never possess the ability to wield the Sharingan. The Haruno's were the only clan to best the Uchiha at the time...but only in strength. The Uchiha caught onto the Haruno's objective and they implemented a rule they still use in battle today. Destroying their own eyes seconds before they died so that no one could ever use them for themselves. The Haruno stopped attacking the Uchiha for a while but the damage had been done and the perks of their callous acts had prized their children with a high resistance to the Sharingan. Some time had passed and the elderly Haruno passed on gracefully, keeping out of the way of any Uchiha as they raised their children…But the Haruno's started to notice that their own children couldn't live past the age of 10. Something they saw as a curse originated from the Uchiha," Sarutobi continued, making Sakura's heart beat fast in anticipation. "So, the few remaining fertile Haruno stole a forbidden scroll from Katsuyu in the Shikkotsu forest."

Sakura held a hand to her mouth in an expressive attempt of keeping her gasp to herself.

"The Haruno's made off with the Forbidden scroll of life augmentation and were pleased to find that the forbidden scroll also revealed advanced medical techniques. So, with that knowledge burned in their minds, they found that they had to take the life of countless of children to efficiently activate the life augmentation process in their people…mercilessly kidnapping Uchiha offspring as soon as they could get their hands on them, and murdered them before applying the jutsu to their own."

Sakura couldn't help herself from gagging. Her clan had such a disgusting and shameful past.

"Eventually, the Uchiha planned to eradicate the Haruno once they built their military force. Forty years ago, they believed that they killed each and every one of them in an overnight massacre…But your interference has changed that." He continued. "It's a good thing that most of the younger Uchiha are unaware of the brutal attack…However, if the older Uchiha find out you're from the Haruno clan…they may be less than fair to you. They may target you…You need to be really careful Sakura, I can't honestly say what your life is worth…" Sarutobi warned before walking back around his desk. "I will keep a close eye on you…but I can't provide you with protection…I'll have to call Kakashi, Itachi and Shisui to my office too…" Sarutobi spoke out loud in an irritated grumble.

"Thank you for the information…I no longer require to use the library…" Sakura bowed her head and excused herself from the office before gripping her hoodie in the centre of her chest.

"I…Oh my goodness…" Sakura breathed in panic as her back collided with the stone-cold wall opposite the Hokage's office. She'd been walking around the town as if she was a nobody…but to the Uchiha…she's a somebody. And what would happen when Danzo finds out about Sakura? What will happen if Shisui tells anyone about her name? Or Itachi? Or Kakashi!

"Sakura, get a hold of yourself!" A familiar stern voice said as she felt hands grip her shoulders firmly.

Sakura forced herself to breathe steadily before her eyes widened. It was Tsunade looking at her with worried eyes, a smug looking Orochimaru standing behind her. She composed herself instantly as she recalled her previous encounter with Tsunade.

"S-Sorry Lady Tsunade…" Sakura mumbled apologetically as all colour drained from her face. "Can I talk with you later?" She asked hesitantly, knowing that she needed to tell Tsunade about everything.

"Later, Chin up." Tsunade smiled before turning on the spot and entering the Hokage's office. Orochimaru looked at Sakura with hungry eyes, noticing her sudden reluctance to look at him. He chuckled deeply before following Tsunade into the office.

* * *

 _A.N: Thank you for reading! I will need to work on this chapter later as I rushed it! Sorry in advance for any confusion! I assure you that I will fix it soon!_


	10. Hindrance

**_Warning: gore included in bottom half of chapter_**

* * *

Sakura sauntered around the village as she contemplated her situation. She didn't expect this time traveling business to be so tough, or so different. She envied Tsunade greatly as she seemed to be enjoying the moments she could grab, although it seemed odd to Sakura that she was spending time with Orochimaru rather than Jiraiya.

There was still at least another day left before Shin and Sai returned from their top-secret mission.

Sakura frowned as she reviewed her conversation with the Hokage. She couldn't quite wrap her head around how different this timeline was to her old one. She worked so hard to increase her knowledge on Medical Jutsu…Strenuous hours spent studying intensely under Tsunade, training on the field, training with Yamato, Sai and Kakashi is now just pretty much disregarded due to this timeline's seemingly convenient past. Sakura tried to look on the positive, maybe this new past would mean that there is a hidden power yet for her to discover.

She also didn't understand why her parents were plain civilians here…with a missing daughter of the same name…

' _This time travelling crap is overwhelming._ ' Sakura thought with a heavy heart.

Sakura noticed two small children walk side by side, playfully arguing about what they'd be doing in school when they got there.

"I'll floor you in 3 seconds, Idiot."

"I'll make you eat those words, Bastard!"

"Sasuke…Naruto…" Sakura murmured to herself, smiling sadly at her former comrades. At least, to Sakura, if anything, the two seem to be familiar with each other. "I hoped to grow by your sides…and become a stronger team, together." She continued, sighing deeply at her worries.

She tore her eyes away from the two kids and noticed two certain perverts on the roof of one of the shops. Jiraiya handed Kakashi over, what Sakura could only assume to be, his first pornographic book.

"At least that's the same." Sakura chuckled to herself, finding a wall to lean on as she continued to observe Kakashi. Sakura smiled as she fondly reminisced her ANBU training with him in her own timeline.

She remembered that Kakashi first tried to be a stern, serious mentor, teaching her the fundamentals of stealth during missions. Kakashi would find it difficult as Sakura didn't quite take him seriously at first. But that was before she was almost killed by Sasuke during an ambush he and his new team formulated.

She took her training a lot more seriously after that, and an intimate relationship had unexpectedly formed in their short time together. It broke Sakura's heart to leave him, unconscious, in her previous timeline…essentially destroying the Kakashi she knew for a new and uncertain timeline…one which Sakura wasn't fond of at all.

Sakura slightly squinted her eyes as she watched Jiraiya exit the scene, leaving a vulnerable Kakashi with a book he'd forever be interested in. Sakura couldn't deny that it was a book she'd enjoyed reading behind Kakashi's back too.

Sakura blushed as her body recalled the gentle warmth of Kakashi's touch, however, she didn't want to think about absurd things during the daylight, her body was just starting to go through puberty and she didn't want to set herself up too early like in her previous timeline.

Much to Sakura's surprise, Kakashi didn't even bother giving Jiraiya's book a second glance as he stowed it away in his pocket.

Itachi had appeared out of Sakura's sights before walking towards Kakashi. Sakura couldn't quite catch what they were saying but her heart stopped as Itachi suddenly pointed in her direction.

Kakashi lazily took his eyes from Itachi and his eyes locked immediately with Sakura's. She wasted no time in briskly walking away, to anywhere but where she was. Unexpectedly, Sakura didn't anticipate bumping into someone's hard Jonin jacket, causing an uncomfortable pressure to form in the bridge of her nose. She jerked her head back and kept her eyes tightly shut.

"A-Ah! I'm sorry!" Sakura apologised as she held her nose, aware that her nose would bleed down her face otherwise. She opened her eyes to see that Jiraiya was standing proudly in front of her.

"Oh! You're…what's-her-face! Tsunade's apprentice!" Jiraiya said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I've been meaning to ask you a favour."

Sakura made quick work of subduing the nosebleed with her chakra before she looked up at Jiraiya.

"It's Sakura…" Sakura reminded Jiraiya. As if a lightbulb went off in her head, Sakura suddenly gasped. "Oh! Jiraiya! I need to ask you about something!" She exclaimed, trying to hide her detective voice as best as she could.

"Can it wait? I'm on a tight schedule here…" Jiraiya said as he clocked onto the two ANBU members looking over at him and Sakura. "Let's go somewhere, private."

"Wait-" Sakura protested before being teleported to a different, much more natural terrain. Sakura looked around and her body completely tensed automatically, as if someone was about to attack her at any second.

"Whoa! Where am I!?" Sakura shrieked as the natural air made her feel extremely uneasy, Jiraiya had to tighten his grip on her shoulder to try and reassure her.

"You're okay, Sakura. I may be dropping a huge confusion bomb on you. But I've brought you to see a wise old sage about a prophecy." Jiraiya informed, leading the way ahead.

"We're in Mount Myoboku?" Sakura muttered inaudibly as she dragged her feet behind her, thanking the convenient fact that this trip would help towards finding out if the Prophecy was really about her, and not Kizashi's Sakura.

"Don't touch the oil…It's not normal Oil." Jiraiya said out of awkwardness and caution, trying to spark a conversation.

"Huh…" Sakura hummed as she looked over at the oil waterfall.

' _Whoa_ … _This must be where Naruto trained…_ ' Sakura thought in awe before sweat dropping at the dangerously pointy, tall rocks she spotted in the distance.

"You don't seem to be very confused right now, Sakura." Jiraiya observed, getting slightly concerned about Sakura's cool composure.

"Well, you see-" Sakura started explaining before a huge sword plummeted from the sky, aimed directly at her.

The ground rumbled as the blade stuck itself deep in the ground, a clear indictor at how much force was put behind it. Small amounts of dust settled quickly, Sakura being nowhere in sight.

Jiraiya stood at the sword with an open mouth and wide eyes before a soft rumble shook the earth as a giant, orange, toad entered the scene.

"GAMABUNTA! WHAT THE HELL?!" Jiraiya cried hysterically as he turned pale, comically pointing both his hands at the sword as he bent his knees. "I WAS TAKING HER TO GAMAMARU!" He continued, his voice cracking as he finished his statement.

However, a soft tap was heard from above the sword. Jiraiya looked up and thanked his lucky stars that it was Sakura who made that noise.

"That's some good reaction speed you've got there, Sakura." Jiraiya breathed, shooting a glare in Gamabunta's direction. "What the hell?" He repeated before Sakura jumped down to his side, not wanting to hear the reason for the toad's seemingly unwarranted attack. Gamabunta growled, narrowing his eyes at Sakura.

"What's wrong?" Jiraiya challenged.

Gamabunta took a long toke from his Kiseru pipe. He started to stomp his way over to his sword before closing in the space between his face and Sakura, gripping his hand around the handle of his sword as he scowled.

Sakura feigned confidence, as she stood her ground and met the giant toads' mean face with one of her own.

"Her." Gamabunta croaked before blowing out a tremendous amount of scorching smoke in Sakura's face. Under normal circumstances, someone would sustain burns all over their body with the intensity of the heat. However, Sakura wasn't normal.

Her skin resisted the effects of any burn, bitterly reminding Sakura about her clans' abilities.

Jiraiya would have spoken up in Sakura's defence, but he noted that Sakura's regeneration skills seemed unordinary as the smoke dispersed quickly. Gamabunta grunted slightly before backing away from Sakura.

"I'm guessing Tsunade taught you that fast regeneration thing?" Jiraiya tried to rationalise as he couldn't shake off Gamabunta's foul mood.

"She's a Haruno." Gamabunta spat before placing his blade away at his hip.

"…" Jiraiya's lips twitched into a frown very briefly, something that didn't go unnoticed. "I'm taking her to the toad sage." He stated, taking Sakura by the arm and ushering her to a temple.

Gamabunta watched the two walked away, casually playing Sakura's death as an attainable, immediate idea..

"…I'm guessing I'm not in his good books." Sakura joked before looking at Jiraiya, instantly regretting the light tone she used.

Jiraiya's face displayed an amount of seriousness that Sakura had never seen before.

"Do you know about your Family name, Sakura?" Jiraiya asked as they entered the temple.

"Well…I've only recently found out…" Sakura muttered off.

"So, you're aware about the Uchiha struggle with the Haruno's?"

"Yes…"

"And you know about the stolen scroll in Shikkotsu forest?"

"The Forbidden scroll of life augmentation?"

"Do you know how it was taken?"

"…No."

Jiraiya stopped speaking as he approached two, much smaller, toads flanking an older toad.

"Interesting…" Gamamaru spoke up, smiling down at the pink Kunoichi.

"What's so interesting about her?" Fukasaku croaked, looking down at Sakura with a tense expression.

"What?" Gamamaru asked genuinely as he turned to face the frog on his left.

"You were saying that this girl is interesting." Shima reminded, a bored tone floating in the air as gamamaru turned to face her.

"Who?"

"Her." Jiraiya said, remembering to be patient with the sage. Gamamaru slowly looked at Jiraiya before noticing Sakura again.

"Ah…Sakura." Gamamaru said, causing Sakura to pay instant attention to him.

"You know her name?" Jiraiya said as he let her arm go.

"Isn't this Kizashi's kid?"

"No." Jiraiya spoke up, recalling the information he collected from his last encounter with Sakura.

"Then I fear that the worst has already happened." Gamamaru concluded.

A long pause rang throughout the temple, unsettling Sakura greatly.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, not willing to wait any longer for a response.

"You know exactly what I mean. Well, perhaps not. But you could make a good guess at why our world is in grave danger…I'd hoped that I was right with Kizashi's first Prophecy, but now it no longer exists." Gamamaru spoke solemnly. Sakura's shoulders slumped.

' _This must be due to the experimental time travelling jutsu_ ' Sakura fiddled with her feet as she thought.

"Is there anything we can do to prevent the end of the world?" Jiraiya finally spoke up, causing Sakura to sharply turn to face him.

"End of the world?! When I spoke to my dad, he said that 'he'd have a pink haired girl with green eyes who held tremendous power would be the key to true peace before I turned twenty.' Not the end of the world!" Sakura exclaimed wildly, holding her hips with her hands.

Silence filled the room once more, letting Sakura regret the slip of the tongue with her choice of words.

"Your dad? So, she is Kizashi's kid." Fukasaku stated surely, letting a faint smile crawl onto his face.

"No, not the Kizashi in this life at least." Gamamaru said. Causing confusion to enter the room, hitting everyone except Sakura.

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked for the sake of everyone. Sakura rubbed the back of her head as she looked at Gamamaru with pleading eyes, as if to stop him from telling Jiraiya about the scroll.

Gamamaru frowned slightly as he turned to Jiraiya.

"Sakura is indeed Kizashi's offspring. Although, she has travelled back through time, from the future." He started. Sakura looked away from Jiraiya, annoyed at the toad for letting something that big out in the open. "If it weren't for her disturbance, Kizashi's daughter would have held the key to peace in the world."

Sakura felt a huge weight hit her body. To know that she was already causing damage just by being in this timeline killed her inside. She was certain that the prophecy was talking about her, considering Kizashi's daughter wasn't even a shinobi. But it's clear to her now that the prophecy really was about Kizashi's daughter...and not her.

All she wanted to do was help her messed up timeline by going back, but now she was understanding more and more why things wouldn't be the same.

"You're awfully quiet for someone who should be saying how crazy this whole conversation is." Jiraiya said, in an uncharacteristically gloomy tone.

"He's not lying…" Sakura spoke up, earning herself a questionable look from the two toads neighbouring the toad sage.

"Do not ask of her timeline right now, it won't be fully accurate to our world." Gamamaru ordered before looking back at Sakura with kind eyes. "Anyone who holds the information of her old life, will surely die…I sense a bigger threat contaminating our world…New power, rather than new people." He clarified to Sakura. She nodded slowly in understanding. "If Sakura dies in this timeline…We will all perish."

Sakura couldn't help her body from shaking at his sudden declaration.

"…I almost died two days ago…" Sakura breathed shakily, slowly sitting herself on the stone floor.

"If I may be so bold to ask, why would that be?" Jiraiya questioned, crossing his arms as his eyes locked with Gamamaru.

"Her Haruno name in this timeline is far more valuable than the Uchiha, the Hyuga and those who bare the Rinnegan." He started before turning to face Sakura. "If the wrong people get a hold of your family name, they can easily extract your dormant power to bend to their will. Whether you're alive or dead." Gamamaru gave a wary look at Jiraiya before continuing. "You can't be caught by the people you know as bad guys, I don't have a prophecy for you right now but I can say that you have a new potential that you'll need to find for yourself."

Jiraiya looked over at Sakura as she nodded her head.

"Do I continue with my books?" Jiraiya asked.

"Perhaps…all Prophecies I've made until this point are completely void. That's what tampering with time does to the world."

Sakura frowned as she straightened her back, not quite ready to get up from the ground yet.

"Am I out of line to be angry?" Jiraiya mumbled, almost too quietly for the toad sage to hear.

"No, but I can only trust you to walk the path of a true sage. But not for the original purpose. Instead for an obvious reason." Gamamaru offered.

Sakura stood up as a rush of questions entered her mind.

"What will happen to Naruto?!" Sakura asked, tears of stress and fear building up behind her eyes. Jiraiya wanted to ask Sakura what she knew about him...but in front of the toad sage he would be seen as disrespectful.

"That remains uncertain…" Gamamaru croacked before closing his eyes slowly.

"You may leave now." Shima informed in a stern tone. Sakura stood still in her place, unable to take in such a large amount of responsibility. Jiraiya turned on his heels and stormed off, leaving Sakura in the temple by herself.

' _I've messed up Naruto's life. He won't be mentored by Jiraiya. Will he learn how to control the tailed beast? Will he have the same influence in this world? I didn't realise the jutsu would have these many repercussions…_ ' Sakura thought riotously as pressure built up fast.

"Whether you did the right thing or not, you cannot change your actions. Work towards a better future." Fukasaku spoke, snapping Sakura out of her gloomy trance.

"You're right…" She agreed reluctantly before she forced herself to walk away from the temple.

"…so, I can't kill her?!" an angry deep voice shouted, rumbling the ground beneath Sakura.

"I'm afraid not Gamabunta." Jiraiya responded nonchalantly. Gamabunta snapped his head in Sakura's direction as he scowled.

"Your clan will pay for Katsuyu's severe incapacitation, and the destruction of the Shikkotsu forest, one way or another!" Gamabunta grunted before hopping away from the two Shinobi.

"I guess my clan destroyed the forest for the scroll." Sakura stated as she looked at Jiraiya with an open expression.

"What kind of weight did your clan hold in your dimension?" Jiraiya asked, not particularly feeling friendly towards the Pink haired kunoichi before him.

"The feather kind." Sakura said before crossing her arms. "So, I'm sure you can understand how outraged I am to hear that my Family name holds a big weight…and such a horrible one too."

Jiraiya didn't ease up his harsh glare, but he let out a sigh of relief.

"Did you travel alone?" He asked as he walked up to Sakura.

"I travelled with Tsunade." Sakura replied honestly. Jiraiya looked at Sakura doubtfully before he teleported them back into the leaf village, the exact position they left.

"Don't speak to anyone, I'll contact you when I need to." Jiraiya said tetchily before speed-walking away.

Sakura watched him leave with upset eyes. It didn't take a genius to understand that he wasn't fond of her after finding out the truth.

She looked up into the clouds instead, in hopes of finding a bit of inspiration. The sky was painted in warm shades of pink and blue, indicating that it was slowly forming from midday to evening.

' _Was I really gone for that long?_ ' Sakura thought to herself before walking off in the direction of her new home.

"Sakura! There you are!" A familiar panicked voice shouted. Sakura turned on the spot to come face to face with Orochimaru.

His genuine tone of worry sent the iciest chills down Sakura's spine.

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked cautiously, eying Orochimaru up and down for any faults in his body language.

"Tsunade's in hospital! We've been trying to find you for the past two hours! She's barely clinging onto her life right-" Orochimaru started.

Sakura immediately cut him off as she pinned her fringe back behind her ear.

"Where is she?" Sakura interrupted, urgency dripping her tone.

"Room 3, floor 2." Orochimaru said, almost stuttering as he didn't expect such a harsh bark from a child.

Sakura ran so fast to the hospital, that she barged straight through Itachi and Kakashi in fear that they'd try and stop her to talk to her. Orochimaru followed quietly behind her.

"What the hell was that about?" Kakashi asked as he rubbed his left arm furiously, to stop the pain.

"Let's find out." Itachi responded, ignoring the throbbing pulses in his right arm.

Sakura arrived outside room 3 after climbing one set of stairs and went to turn the door knob, only to find that the turn was met with resistance.

"The door's lock-" Orochimaru started only to be rudely interrupted as Sakura pulled the door of its' hinges, purposely throwing it in Orochimaru's direction, resulting in a thud echoing down the hallway as the door made contact with Orochimaru's face.

"What are you doing in here?" a standard medic asked as she eyed Sakura in bewilderment.

"Get out of the way, I'll tend to her now." Sakura brusquely demanded in pure medic mode as she walked towards Tsunade.

A male medic tried to intimidate Sakura as he stood proudly in front of Tsunade as if to protect her.

Sakura, however, simply grabbed him by the scruff of his collar and lifted him from the ground.

"You're going to have to do a hell of a lot more to get rid of me!" Sakura growled as she dropped the medic. Scuttling to his feet, he reaches over to press a button to alarm security.

"It's okay. The Hokage sent for her," Orochimaru's nasally voice emerged meekly from behind her, signifying that his nose was either broken or bleeding.

The few medics that were tending to Tsunade had hesitantly left the room. Leaving Sakura to assess the situation.

"Write this down." Sakura started as she pulled her sleeves back to wash her hands thoroughly.

In fear of being a victim to another lash-out, Orochimaru did as he was told.

Sakura quickly dried her hands before noticing the dirty bowl of water placed by Tsunades bed.

Avoiding looking at her Mentors state before analysing the situation, Sakura threw the bowl out of the open window before opening a box with new bowls.

She filled up a clean, new bowl with filtered water before finding a small towel.

Sakura looked up at Orochimaru to see he had paper and a pen, with the additional broken and a bloody nose, before finally looking down at Tsunade.

She refrained from flinching at the severity of her injuries.

"We start from the head," Sakura stated as she swiftly stroked Tsunade's stray, blood soaked hair out of the way. Orochimaru scribbled away at the plain sheet of paper.

"Second degree burn to the left side of the forehead, cheek and neck. Priority number 7 of 10." Sakura started as she looked down at Tsunade's battered body, not noticing the two agitated and sore ANBU members entering the room. "Third degree burn to the entire right arm, questionable fourth degree to the hand. Priority number 4 of 10. Acid is a possible cause for both injuries. Left arm is unharmed." Sakura continued before cutting Tsunade's top off with a chakra scalpel in one swift swipe. "Second degree burns to the collar bone, obvious stab wound, under an inch away from the stomach. Blade left in patient, no poison present. Priority number 9 of 10. Don't touch it." Sakura said while slapping Orochimaru's hand away from the blade as he was about to remove it. "Ribcage is intact."

Sakura looked down at Tsunade's legs and wanted to frown. They were too far-gone. "Left and right leg completely unhealable, suspected poison influence and/or fourth degree burn. No pulse or temperature in the legs." Sakura murmured darkly as she reached over to grab two long and thick blue elastic bands before wrapping them tightly above centre of Tsunade's thighs. "Priority is immediate to prevent further spread of suspected poison, checking heatbeat." Sakura said as she hovered her hand over Tsunade's chest. "120 BPM, safe to undergo amputation." Sakura stated as she quickly numbed Tsunade's thighs with her chakra.

"Amputation?!" Kakashi said, horrified at Sakura's conclusion.

"Kakashi, you can use fire, right?" Sakura swapped her nervousness with a question.

"Fire? What do you expect me to do with it? I'm not a part of this madness!" He protested in a way Sakura wasn't used to hearing.

"I need to cauterize h-" Sakura offered him a clear explanation, in attempts to reassure him of her skills.

"No, I'm not going to be a part in this." Kakashi repeated, doubting Sakura's medical skills.

"I need to amputate her legs to stop the poison from developing. It's spreading at a fast pace and I need to close the blood vessels and nerves in order to tend to the other injuries immediately after amputation." Sakura stated as professionally as she could. Kakashi shook his head at her.

"Where do you want the flames?" Itachi asked, reluctantly, having a little hope in the pink medic in front of him recalling the healing she performed on Iruka.

"I'll cut here," Sakura indicated to the middle of Tsunade's thighs by drawing a quick line with her finger. "And as soon as I pull her legs off the table, you just aim a football sized scorching flame at both legs, ready?" Sakura said as she infused her hands with chakra.

She didn't wait for a response from Itachi as she suddenly cut Tsunade's thigh with a clean swipe, causing Kakashi to gag relatively loudly. She pulled Tsunade's legs off the table before setting them onto the badly prepped medical table the previous medics were using.

A mixture of yellow and green puss seeped out of the amputated leg alongside a trickle of blood flowing slowly down the table.

Itachi used his fireball technique on que, causing Kakashi to almost throw up at the horrific gore of it all.

Sakura, pleased with the sealing of Itachi's flames, reinforced the closed wound with a pure, but brief, healing technique before she moved her focus to Tsunade's arm.

"What happened, Orochimaru, and why aren't you injured?" Sakura asked as she threaded her chakra through Tsunade's muscles in her arm to analyse the situation further.

"His nose is broken." Kakashi pointed out obviously to distract himself from watching Sakura.

"So is the door." Sakura stated idly before returning to medic mode. "Confirmed acid injury in the right arm. Confirmed third degree burn in arm and hand. Skin grafting not needed but optional when patient comes to." Sakura listed, eyeing Orochimaru to write down further notes and to answer her question.

"We were required to deliver a package to the village hidden in the mist. We were ambushed before we left the fire country and encountered a powerful enemy. Tsunade decided that she would summon Katsuyu. I don't know what possessed her to do such a thing…She should've known that Katsuyu hasn't been the same since the Haruno attack." Orochimaru stated as he leaned to the side. "The swordsman managed to impale Tsunade. Katsuyu went on a rampage after saying 'Haruno!'. Clearly the beast is deluded as it's common knowledge that the Haruno's died out fourty years ago." Orochimaru said as if he thought it were a shame.

Sakura briefly eyed Itachi and Kakashi to try and signal to them to remain quiet about her family name, and much to her surprise, they obeyed. "The slug decided to attack Tsunade instead of the enemy, spitting white acid at her as Tsunade was clearly confused..."

"That doesn't explain her legs." Sakura stated, not wanting to hear any more of the result of her mistake in not telling her about Katsuyu sooner.

"My snake may have something to do with that." Orochimaru offered, his genuine guilt catching Sakura slightly off guard. "The slug latched itself on Tsunade's legs, in attempt to burn her entire body, however I summoned my serpent to eat the slug. I can't say that he didn't eat her without poisoning the slug to paralyse it first."

Sakura fought the urge to argue with him further as she finished fixing the damaged tissues in Tsunade's arm.

"I want you two remain here, Orochimaru, Itachi. Kakashi, I need you to pass on information to the Hokage." Sakura concluded as she started to fix the pealing pieces of skin that were scattered from the top of her arm to the tip of her fingers.

Kakashi hesitantly walked over to Sakura, trying his hardest to ignore Tsunade's detached legs, and stood close to Sakura.

"Tsunade will need the herbs I collected on my mission. She will also need a lot of Sake." Sakura whispered quietly, Itachi read every word that was spoken by Sakura's lips. Orochimaru, however, didn't catch a thing.

Kakashi nodded before darting out of the room. Sakura sighed very slightly as a small amount of sweat formed on her forehead. She was in for a very rough night.

* * *

 _A.N: It took me forever to write this chapter ;_; I'll have to re-read it later on but thank you all for reading and for the reviews! The reviews are helping me to improve my logic and writing within the fanfiction :)_


	11. Devastation

A cold breeze carried through the quiet room. After hours passed, Sakura had almost finished her work on Tsunade feeling somewhat drained and in a zombie like state.

She had refused the help of the medics that often wondered in to offer aid during the night. She also refused food that they brought her in too, even though she really needed to eat soon. Sakura decided that it was best that she held onto Tsunade's legs for further examination, and she wanted Tsunade herself to take a look at them when she regained consciousness, so she had sealed them away in a blank scroll.

Orochimaru had found a seat during the time he was in the room and one of the medics had tended to his broken nose shortly after Kakashi returned with herbs and alcohol.

Itachi stood quietly behind Sakura, watching the way she worked her medical skills in an almost experimental way. Earning brief glares from Kakashi, Itachi helped Sakura close up the stomach wound and retrieved the equipment she needed to efficiently mend Tsunade's wounds throughout the night.

Kakashi stood far away in the corner of the room, silently looking at Tsunade and Sakura in a fearful awe as Sakura, slowly but surely, restored Tsunade's body.

"I think the worst is over," Sakura stated as she wiped away a lot of idle sweat from her face with her sleeve. Orochimaru let out a long, almost inaudible, sigh before reaching out to touch Tsunade's face.

Sakura tensed her body as she fought back the urge to slap his hand away again.

"You should rest, Sakura." Orochimaru advised, only taking his eyes off Tsunade for a second.

Sakura looked outside and was not surprised to be met with the rising sun.

"I don't, need sleep…" Sakura started as she performed a self-analogy examination. "I need food…" She admitted.

"Itachi, Kakashi, you're needed by the Hokage." A medic had informed as she walked into the room. "We thank you for your help, Sakura, but we'll take over from here." She continued, with hints of irritation intertwining her voice.

"I'll stay with Tsunade." Orochimaru stated, as if he was trying to reassure Sakura.

Sakura merely shrugged before following Kakashi and Itachi out of the building, noisily dragging her feet behind her.

"Heh…" Sakura couldn't help but feel with a tremendous amount of pride, walking ahead of the two ANBU members.

' _I don't care about this 'Haruno' power...that…just then. That was all me._ ' Sakura mused with an exhausted smirk on her face, certain of her own skills.

"You're scary…You know that?" Kakashi stated in a shaky voice, watching Sakura closely.

"Yup, I'm aware." She accepted before turning to face the men. "Thank you, Itachi. I would have had to use a lot more chakra if it wasn't for your help."

Itachi simply looked down at Sakura with an indifferent expression.

"You're welcome." He finally spoke. The two left Sakura without another word, leaving her slightly down as exhaustion set in.

"Where should I get my food?" Sakura asked herself, walking around the food shops while trying to make a decision.

"You're that girl Shisui saved." came a deep voice from behind Sakura. She would have jumped at the sudden noise if it weren't for her exhaustion capping her senses.

"Ah...Mr ninja man." Sakura addressed, challenging him for a name. Zumi ignored his nickname as he considered Sakura's outward appearance.

' _She's not particularly shapely...She's got a big forehead, her skin is pale as a ghost and her hair is sickeningly pink. She doesn't seem to possess a great amount of skill given the way she's presented...Why is Shisui so interested in this girl?_ ' Zumi thought before looking away.

"It's Zumi." He stated, not really bothering about asking for her name. "We were supposed to be on a mission right now, but we got an emergency summon from the Hokage. Any idea why that is?"

Sakura raised her eyebrow before shaking her head.

"No Idea," Sakura half lied. "Wanna grab some food? I kinda don't want to be alone right now." Sakura said, feeling vulnerable. Zumi looked at her briefly before walking in the direction of a breakfast shop.

"You're paying." He agreed. Sakura thanked that he agreed so easily as she followed him into the cafe. However, a cold chill ran down her spine. Something was wrong.

They ordered their food and sat at an empty table.

"How did you and Shisui meet?" Zumi asked after a few moments of silence. Sakura shuffled awkwardly before looking to her left.

"Uh…well I guess he saved me from some drunk men, he introduced himself and I introduced myself…This was a few days ago…We don't really know much about each other." Sakura responded through chewing her food, something Zumi found rather rude.

"Shisui speaks of you fondly, and often. Surely there's more to it than that."

Sakura swallowed the food in her mouth before staring straight at Zumi.

"He speaks about me? What does he say?" She asked curiously. Zumi raised an eyebrow before smirking.

"You sound enthusiastic. Are you crushing on Shisui?" He questioned in a surprisingly deep and seductive voice.

Sakura frowned for a fraction of a second before she felt her cheeks heating.

"No! I don't even know him." She started unconvincingly. "I'm just grateful that he saved my life…" She looked down at her food, reminding herself of the prophecy the toad sage informed her of.

"You owe him." Zumi stated before shoving a forkful of food in his mouth.

"Yes…I do." Sakura scoffed the rest of her food down within a minute.

"You eat like you're starved. When was the last time you ate?" Zumi questioned while straightening his stance.

"Six days ago." Sakura replied honestly. Zumi scoffed.

"Right,"

Sakura ignored his comment as she looked into the glass of the hokage tower. Kakashi, Itachi and Shisui were being spoken to…probably about keeping her last name to themselves.

"I reckon Shisui's interested in you because he's just a hormonal teenager." Zumi stated casually, earning a glare from Sakura.

"And how old are you exactly?" Sakura asked, as if defending Shisui's honour.

"I'm 19." He replied. "No matter how hard you look, you'll never be able to lip read an Uchiha…" Zumi stated as he noticed Sakura look over at the tower.

"I'm not looking at Shisui."

"I didn't say you were."

Sakura rubbed her eyes before looking directly into Zumi's eyes.

"Something about you feels familiar." Sakura said after a long pause. Zumi didn't flinch.

"Sakura,"

A voice called. Sakura sharply turned to face Jiraiya and refrained from smiling at him.

"Thank you for the company, Zumi." Sakura politely dismissed herself before rushing to Jiraiya's side, unsure of how to react.

"I'm dying to talk to you about Naruto. But curiosity will only kill me." Jiraiya said as he crossed his arms. "So, I have decided that I will wonder the lands for secret information to protect our village."

Sakura smiled faintly in relief.

' _At least he seems to be heading in the right direction_ ' She mused.

"Why are you informing me of this?" Sakura questioned a few moments later.

"I spoke to the Hokage. We both agreed on me sending the information to you as well as the Hokage. But you'll need to look for signs."

Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Did I die? In your timeline?" Jiraiya suddenly asked. Sakura kept a straight face as she looked into his eyes. "How did I die?"

"I didn't say that you did!" Sakura retorted instantly.

"You didn't have to."

"It's complicated…I'm not sure how much I can say…But I will say that your death saved the entire villages life…" Sakura carefully selected her words.

A wide smile spread across Jiraiya's face as the words entered his ears like a soft melody.

"That's very good to know." He voiced before uncrossing his arms. "For now, keep things to yourself, you know you can trust me." He said as he placed a hand on Sakura's head. "I'll write to you soon."

With that, Jiraiya left the village, leaving Sakura standing outside.

"Sakura?"

Sakura sighed irritably before turning around on the spot.

"Yes, yes, everyone wants to speak to me today..." She mumbled before finding herself look at her new teammates.

"S-Kai! Kezune! It's good to see you bo-" Sakura started with a smile on her face, ready to head to the Sand for her Chunin exam.

"The Chunin exams have been cancelled." Sai interrupted, as if he read her mind.

"What?! Why?" Sakura argued, looking from Sai to Shin.

"Some sort of problem with the Kazekage." Shin explained before the two of them walked to the Hokage tower.

"That's it?" She questioned.

"We no longer need to associate ourselves with you." Sai stated, hitting Sakura's nerves directly.

"Because of your secret make-believe faction? I'll gladly stay away from you guys." Sakura hissed after them. They both ignored her as they slowly left her field of vision.

Sakura stood in the same spot for a good half hour, wondering what her next move should be. She wore a sour expression as Sai's choice of words swam around her head.

"Sakura." Sakura turned her head slightly as she nodded at Kakashi.

"The Chunin exams-" He started informatively.

"Have been cancelled. I know." Sakura responded grumpily, making Kakashi grin.

"Whoa, someone's in a mood." He chuckled, earning a glare from Sakura.

"You weren't looking too hot watching me operate on Tsunade."

"Hey, don't drag me down with you." Kakashi held his hands up as Itachi walked to his side.

"Hm…" Sakura hummed as she crossed her arms and looked away, Locking eyes with Shisui.

"Shisui and I need to speak with you, Sakura." Itachi spoke up. Sakura looked over at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Why isn't Kakashi invited?" Sakura questioned.

"It's Uchiha business." He stated bluntly. Sakura frowned further as she had a faint idea on what they wanted to speak about.

Shisui walked over before looking down at Sakura.

"Itachi and I need to talk with you, Sakura." Shisui repeated, tempting Sakura to giggle.

"Alright, I assume we'll be speaking at-"

"My house." Shisui finished Sakura's sentence before leading her and Itachi to the Uchiha compound.

* * *

"So, what do you need me for?" Sakura asked the moment Itachi closed the door, but she suddenly found herself breathless as Itachi tackled her to the ground and aimed a punch to her face.

She shook of the shock and blocked the attack by grabbing his wrist.

"What…the hell?!" She wheezed as she went to kick Itachi, however, she felt a heavy weight keeping her legs from moving. She glanced down to see that Shisui has put dense gravity seals on them.

"You killed Sasuke?" Itachi stated, the words tasting weird to his tongue as he spoke, unsure of that the information the Hokage gave him.

Sakura hesitated to answer, which made Itachi scowl at her.

"You killed Sasuke!?" He repeated, anger lacing his tone.

"Look, you don't need to restrain me, I'm willing to talk to you…however I'm not sure what the Hokage has said to you." Sakura stated as she realised Itachi's wrist slowly, starting to feel the pain of the gravity seals.

"…" Itachi huffed silently before getting off Sakura and sitting on the armchair next to her.

She was about to sit up before she felt another weight suddenly hit her chest.

"Oof!" Sakura exhaled involuntarily, noticing that it was Shisui who was sitting on her. "Don't you think that's unnecessary? You're kinda heavy, no offence." Sakura struggled.

Shisui kept quiet as he activated his Sharingan.

A long pause creeped into his house as Sakura stared directly into Shisui's Sharingan, as if to challenge him.

"What did the Hokage tell you?" Sakura questioned, in attempts to break the awkward silence. Shisui frowned before deactivating his Sharingan.

"He told us about your Origin." Itachi stated, waiting patiently for Sakura to respond.

"Yes…I apologise for my Clans mistakes…" Sakura attempted as she looked over at Itachi.

"Your actual origin, and how you're a nobody who's become a somebody, especially to the Uchiha." He continued.

Sakura frowned as she looked back at Shisui.

"I did feel that something about her was…odd." Shisui commented.

"How much do you know? Does Kakashi know?" Sakura continued to ask.

"All of it, and no. I put the Hokage in a Genjutsu and tortured him for 10 minutes because I felt that he was lying about you…which was a good call." Itachi stated honestly, causing a small gasp to escape her mouth.

"And Kakashi didn't notice…" Sakura stated in disbelief.

"He was put under Shisui's Genjutsu. That's all you need to know."

Sakura looked up at Shisui with sad eyes.

' _What kind of Sharingan does he have?_ ' Sakura thought.

"Why did you kill Sasuke?" Itachi snapped her attention back to him, making Sakura panic slightly.

"I can't tell you or I die. Just know it was for good reason." Sakura stated, almost removing her gaze from him.

"Why?" He repeated as he drew his Kunai.

"You're going to seriously torture me?" Sakura laughed. "I think we both know-"

Itachi took out a familiar looking scroll before holding it to Sakura's head.

"We found out how to reverse the effects of this badly put together jutsu in 2 minutes. How long did you take to create it? 20 years?" Itachi bluffed, giving Sakura some time to contemplate her situation.

"Would you believe anything I said? Time travelling is a far-fetched concept." Sakura questioned.

"Uchiha's are good at reading people like a book." Itachi smirked.

Sakura didn't take long to weigh up her options.

"Do it…" She eventually said. "I didn't perform the jutsu correctly anyway…I've messed this timeline up…so just reverse it."

 _Slap_

Sakura stared wide-eyed at Shisui, surprised that he'd hit her.

"My guess is that you've created that Jutsu because something in your own timeline was messed up." Shisui observed Sakura as he spoke. "What made you want to travel back?"

Sakura sighed deeply, regretting telling the Hokage everything.

"You two, of all people, weren't supposed to know." She mumbled as she looked away from both Uchiha's, cussing herself for getting into this situation.

"Was it for Sasuke? You were calling his name out when you slept." Shisui asked, getting a satisfying response as Sakura tensed her whole body. "You didn't want to kill him."

"Can you stop speaking for me and just reverse this mess?" Sakura asked for mercy as she looked over at Itachi.

"Tell us why you travelled back and I'll take you back." Itachi lied.

"I wanted a life with Sasuke." Sakura admitted embarrassingly as she closed her eyes to hide her eyes from their reaction. "I loved him so much but he left the village," Sakura continued as tears threatened to pair up to the sadness that built up inside her. "Orochimaru marked him and he went looking for power…Naruto tried to stop Sasuke…But nothing was getting through to him." She said before glaring at Itachi. "He sought power from _Orochimaru_ in order to kill you, Itachi. And I know Orochimaru doesn't seem like a bad guy now but he's bad news." She stated in a shaky voice. "After Sasuke killed you he found out the truth and wanted to eradicate the village. He attacked me while I was on an ANBU Mission with Kakashi Sensei and I almost died…I killed him in order to get his eye for the scroll so I could put things right…" Sakura ended her sentence weakly as a single tear dripped out of her left eye and drew a wet line down the side of her face.

"I don't understand how three different kind of eyes can teleport someone back in time." Shisui admitted as he took the scroll from Itachi and opened it.

"Tsunade was the one who created the scroll…I simply did what she asked." Sakura answered bluntly, unwilling to keep up a good attitude. "You'll have to ask her if-"

"Tsunade was announced dead by the medics ten minutes after we left the hospital." Shisui interrupted her.

Sakura's breath hitched. The room around her became dark and an icy coldness invaded her whole system. Tsunade was in a stable condition when Sakura left the hospital. Nothing was a threat to her…other than Orochimaru. Unlimited mixed feelings mixed up unhealthily in the pit of Sakura's stomach like a dirty pint.

"She's dead?" Sakura asked quietly, silent tears falling from her eyes. "Send me back." She demanded as she looked from Shisui to Itachi. "Send me back!"

"We don't know how to do it…we were bluffing. Tsunade would have been our best option to put things back in place." Shisui spoke up in Itachi's defence. Feeling a deadly aura emit from Sakura as he spoke.

"You lied…" Sakura stated rather than asked as a deadly chuckle tempted her throat. "You should know that Itachi murdered-"

"Our clan. We know everything you told the Hokage." Shisui reminded. "So, I can understand that your sad eyes at me are likely due to my death." He continued. "I'm feeling privileged, though, that Itachi doesn't get sad eyes."

"He doesn't deserve it…" Sakura muttered childishly. "Can you let me go now?"

"No. Now you'll be working alongside Shisui and Zumi so we can keep an eye on you. Otherwise we will leak information about your clan." Itachi stated while taking the scroll back from Shisui.

"Nothing ties me to the Haruno clan." Sakura attempted. Itachi smirked as this was the phrase he was waiting for.

"The upper hand we have is what this worlds' history books don't include. A weapon that seeks out the Haruno and hunts them dead." He informed, signalling Shisui to stand.

"What if you're bluffing?" Sakura said confidently.

"I dare you to find out." Itachi replied before stowing the scroll away in the pouch. Shisui deactivated the gravity seals and held out a hand to Sakura. She looked at it cautiously before looking up at Shisui.

"We understand that you're not the same as the Haruno of this timeline. You're simply an idiot who tampered with time and has suffered stupid consequences." Shisui stated simply. Sakura refused to take his hand as she quickly stood up, only to be met with a sudden rush of dizziness.

Shisui stabilized Sakura's body automatically.

"I wasn't offering you my hand to be polite." Shisui said as he looked at her dumbfounded face.

"The Hokage will be making a recommendation to promote you from Genin to Jonin." Itachi informed Sakura the instant she seemed fully alert.

"He would only be allowed to do that if-" Sakura started in a know-it-all fashion.

"We've found our ways. He'll be setting up your ANBU test right now and he'll have it ready by tomorrow." Itachi stated.

Sakura felt truly trapped. Now there was nothing that could comfort her as she was surrounded by a foreign world she swore she'd change. But now with the information leaked to Itachi and Shisui with the whole Uchiha Clan alive with Sakura's current history was a recipe of disaster.

"I guess I am at your disposal…" Sakura reluctantly agreed. "But what happens now?"

"Your ANBU test." Shisui repeated.

"No, I mean the future…" She elaborated vaguely.

"It won't be the same, if that's what you're getting at." Itachi said before walking to the front door. "Oh, and don't even think about running away…I've got my friend watching you." He said before leaving the house.

"Friend?" Sakura repeated to Shisui. "The guy he thinks is Madara?"

Shisui nodded his head.

"We've been told _everything_ by the Hokage." Shisui repeated a third time as he sat down. "It's incredibly hard to follow…but Itachi said he was certain of what he saw." He sighed.

Sakura took a seat opposite Shisui.

"So, what? I'm your pet now? Where do I go?" Sakura asked genuinely.

"You'd like that?" He chuckled as he rubbed his head. "Let me into your memories so I can see." He requested suddenly.

"I don't really have a say. Otherwise the Haruno hunter will be used." She sighed before looking into Shisui's eyes. "I don't know how to let you in…but the Haruno's…"

"Just take down all defences, relax completely. No one in the world can resist the effects of the Sharingan without a wall of defence…" Shisui said confidently as he held Sakura's face and leaned towards her. "I think I deserve to see the future that would have happened if it weren't for you."

Sakura's heart beat started to beat irregularly as she became painfully aware of the lack of space between them.

"O-Okay, I will try my hardest." Sakura stammered, briefly avoiding his gaze as he activated his Sharingan.

"Show me all that you have seen." Shisui hummed deeply as he stroked the side of Sakura's face delicately with his fingers.

* * *

 _A.N: Thank you_ _for being patient and thank you for reading! (I'll re-read through this later on) I think I have hit a point in this not so realistic story where it's becoming boring? Any feedback will be appreciated and will most likely form the next couple of chapters in the story!_

 _Ultimately should I start again on persevere with this story? (I'll try and add on to other fanfics while I decide on what will happen to this fanfic ;_;)_


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